News Corp set to sell out of CareerOne after striking agreement with Seek
News Corp looks set to sell its remaining stake in job site CareerOne after penning a commercial agreement with rival Seek.
The publisher, which owns The Australian and The Daily Telegraph and has a majority stake in REA Group, confirmed to Mumbrella that it will be “exiting the relationship with CareerOne”, but would not confirm if this meant it would be looking to sell its 25% share.
News Corp launched CareerOne in 1999 in a bid to grab classified ad dollars which were moving from print to online, but the site failed to fire and was overtaken by nimbler rivals such as Seek. In 2008 News entered into a joint-venture with Monster Worldwide to offer combined online and print recruitment services through the CareerOne brand.
Private education company Acquire Learning bought a controlling interest in CareerOne in June of last year with existing shareholders News Corp and New York-based Monster Inc., remaining as minority shareholders.
Today’s alignment with Seek will see News Corp’s sales teams offer its customers a Seek Group employment listing with every print ad they book.
As part of the agreement, which comes into effect in early August, News Corp’s digital properties will link to a Seek Group job site.
News Corp Australasia executive chairman, Michael Miller, said: “Our new partnership with Seek will set the benchmark for employers looking for the right candidate. Together we reach the largest and most active pool of job seekers in the country.
Miller: Partnership with Seek “will set benchmark for employers”
“Research shows that a combined print and digital campaign delivers strong employment advertising return on investment. Now, Australian businesses have the perfect contextual environment to promote their company through leading print and online channels.
“Today’s announcement is part of a broader strategic initiative for News to become the trusted partner to small- and medium-sized enterprises. This partnership with Australia’s number one employment marketplace, together with our investments in realestate.com.au, trades and services provider hipages and multi-platform marketing solution NewsXtend, will deliver unique and impactful solutions for our clients.”
News Corp has a 13.8% stake in Seek subsidiary, Seek Asia.
Seek CEO and co-founder Andrew Bassat said: “Seek has valued News Corp’s involvement in Seek Asia. We are delighted to extend this relationship in Australia to offer a leading digital employment solution to their business customers.”
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