TMP Worldwide, the parent company of Monster, is to acquire rival US jobsite HotJobs in a deal worth $460m. It will maintain HotJobs as a stand-alone brand.

The purchase of HotJobs, previously the second biggest American e-cruiter after Monster, makes TMP the world’s leading online recruiter by a considerable distance. It follows on from the purchase of FlipDog, another top 10 US e-cruiter, in May, and last month’s acquisition of European jobs network Jobline International.

Together, Monster and HotJobs will dominate the US online market, carrying an estimated 650,000 jobs and 14 million CVs between them.

The deal gives TMP access to a handful of major corporate accounts which are currently signed up to HotJobs rather than Monster and could, according to analysts, bring TMP an extra $15m in operating profit, on top of that brought in by the already very lucrative Monster brand. Although HotJobs is yet to turn a profit, losing $45m last year, it reported Q1 sales of $33.6m in 2001, double last year’s figure.

Despite the company’s insistence that there will be no cost savings or job cuts involved in owning both sites, it remains unclear at this stage how the two will be kept separate. Both presently offer similar services, with some overlap in terms of users. With many employers likely to pick one site in difficult economic conditions, the purchase of HotJobs has led to some speculation over how TMP will grow both brands simultaneously.

Further market rumour suggests that HotJobs, which had been on sale for some time, was bought at a discounted price, and that TMP completed the purchase to ward off other potential buyers.

The deal is still to be approved by HotJobs’ shareholders, a process which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.