With 250,000 unique visitors in March, a valuation based on traffic would make CareerPath worth double, Career Mosaic and Headhunter.net worth quadruple and Monster worth 9 times the value of CareerBuilder. That's just inside the pure web segment of the industry. Korn Ferry, trading at a significant premium, has only a slightly higher value. Heidrick and Struggles stock price is languishing at its opening price with a market cap roughly equal to CareerBuilder. Right now, the non-Recruiting Internet game is an acquisition play.
Companies go public to fund buying sprees that shore up the long term value to shareholders.
Watching CareerBuilder's next steps will be an interesting spectator sport. While we still haven't seen CareerBordello or CareerGinMill, the rest of the analogies are wearing thin. With Careerbabe, Careerbs, Careercafe, Careerchamps, Careercave, Careerconcierge, CareerDoctors leading the cluster, it's amazing that any brand distinction exists in our space. They all imply development and personal improvement, however. We wonder whether the job hunters who visit the various Careerxxxx sites experience an initial disappointment.