Randstad purchases Monster in new deal

Randstad Holding NV is preparing to purchase the jobs website Monster.com. A recent press release revealed that Randstad, a jobs company itself, will pay $429 million as part of the deal.
Monster will not only bring its recognizable brand name, but considerable assets to its new owner, including services that could help Randstad improve its global presence. In a press release, Monster CEO Tim Yates explained how this technology merger will benefit each company, based on its existing mission. Randstad reportedly places more than 2 million people every year, and Monster extends its services to more than 40 different countries around the world.
"Joining Randstad provides a unique opportunity to accelerate our ability to connect more people to more jobs," Yates said. "Together with Randstad, Monster will be better positioned to fulfill our core mission, and our employees will benefit from becoming part of a larger, more diversified company. Equally important, this transaction offers immediate value to our shareholders." He also added that Randtad will work with his company during the transition.
Randstad agreed to purchase all of Monster's outstanding stocks at a price of $3.40 per share. Monster has operated for more than 20 years, and rumors about the company selling itself in a merger of some sort have been circulating for years, Fortune said.
Randstand's acquisition comes amid similar movement in the jobs tech world. On June 13, the New York Times reported that Microsoft would buy yet another jobs-related site, LinkedIn, for $26.2 billion. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, said that the deal would help both companies focus on professionals, since these were already the target audience of each of them before the merger.
An Entrepreneur piece on the deal said that Monster's value has varied over the years, reaching as high as around $5.5 billion in 2007.