Drishtikone
It seems that Google can buy anything these days! SAP… Monster… and many other tech giants!! Did I make a mistake by NOT buying Google at $200? Probaby yes!
Some have speculated that Google could make an even bigger splash in the online classifieds business by acquiring Monster Worldwide, which runs the popular online job site Monster.com.
Officials at Google were not immediately available for comment. Monster Worldwide (Research) chief financial officer Lanny Baker declined to comment about takeover speculation.
But Google, with $7.6 billion in cash and a richly valued stock, could easily afford to buy Monster, which is valued at about $5 billion.
Online job listing companies like Monster are rapidly growing as they steal business from newspapers’ help-wanted sections. Analysts expect that Monster’s sales will jump 19 percent this year, to nearly $1.2 billion, and that profits will surge 35 percent.
There is also optimism that the labor market will continue to pick up steam, which would bode well for Monster. Employment figures for December will be reported on Friday. (For more on the jobs report, click here).
Allowing users to search for jobs is a natural extension for Google (Research) as it rolls out services such as personalized search, video search, and online mapping tools
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