RBI sell off sparks job site speculation
10 September 2012
Last month's announcement that media firm Reed Business Information (RBI) is to sell off its trade titles has sparked market speculation that the sale could ultimately unbundle the jobs sites of a hos
Last month's announcement that media firm Reed Business Information (RBI) is to sell off its trade titles has sparked market speculation that the sale could ultimately unbundle the jobs sites of a host of powerful magazine titles.
Any such move could see a major jobs brand-owner cherry pick assets across a number of specialisms — creating a powerful and highly diverse jobs entity overnight, which in turn could skew advertising rates within the online recruitment industry.
RBI — part of Anglo-Dutch publishing firm Reed Elsevier and Europe's biggest business-to-business (B2B) media company — also denied industry speculation that it was in preliminary talks over the sale of Totaljobs.com and other RBI jobs websites.
Tim Haigh, head of communications at Reed Elsevier corporate, told Recruiter: "At this stage there are no official talks and it would be wrong of me to comment on pure speculation. We are working on an 'information memoranda', and only after that document has been completed could any meaningful [sale] discussions take place."
Reed was also unwilling to comment on whether venture capitalists or private equity firms have made approaches for the acquisition of RBI in its entirety. But any break-up could see big web brands, such as totaljobs.com, cwjobs.co.uk and caterer.com, fall to a bulk buyer, perhaps bundled as RBI's Totaljobs Group, which comprises these brands and more.
To maximise its sale prospects, Reed may also want to detach job websites from RBI's massive stable of trade titles, such as personneltodayjobs.com, a subset of HR magazine Personnel Today's website personneltoday.com.
The divestment of its trade magazine business is part of a major restructuring programme at Reed Elsevier which is expected to achieve savings of £245m over 2008-2011, with annual savings targeted of £100m by 2011.
Last month, the announcement of RBI's divestment was blamed on its exposure to advertising markets and cyclicality issues. Reed Elsevier's chief executive, Sir Crispin Davis, said: "RBI is a well-managed business, as evidenced by online growth and the control of costs, [but] its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well with Reed Elsevier's strategy."
Commenting on the shape of any potential deal, Haigh added: "We've made no secret of our intent to sell to the highest bidder, but it is too early to comment."
Any such move could see a major jobs brand-owner cherry pick assets across a number of specialisms — creating a powerful and highly diverse jobs entity overnight, which in turn could skew advertising rates within the online recruitment industry.
RBI — part of Anglo-Dutch publishing firm Reed Elsevier and Europe's biggest business-to-business (B2B) media company — also denied industry speculation that it was in preliminary talks over the sale of Totaljobs.com and other RBI jobs websites.
Tim Haigh, head of communications at Reed Elsevier corporate, told Recruiter: "At this stage there are no official talks and it would be wrong of me to comment on pure speculation. We are working on an 'information memoranda', and only after that document has been completed could any meaningful [sale] discussions take place."
Reed was also unwilling to comment on whether venture capitalists or private equity firms have made approaches for the acquisition of RBI in its entirety. But any break-up could see big web brands, such as totaljobs.com, cwjobs.co.uk and caterer.com, fall to a bulk buyer, perhaps bundled as RBI's Totaljobs Group, which comprises these brands and more.
To maximise its sale prospects, Reed may also want to detach job websites from RBI's massive stable of trade titles, such as personneltodayjobs.com, a subset of HR magazine Personnel Today's website personneltoday.com.
The divestment of its trade magazine business is part of a major restructuring programme at Reed Elsevier which is expected to achieve savings of £245m over 2008-2011, with annual savings targeted of £100m by 2011.
Last month, the announcement of RBI's divestment was blamed on its exposure to advertising markets and cyclicality issues. Reed Elsevier's chief executive, Sir Crispin Davis, said: "RBI is a well-managed business, as evidenced by online growth and the control of costs, [but] its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well with Reed Elsevier's strategy."
Commenting on the shape of any potential deal, Haigh added: "We've made no secret of our intent to sell to the highest bidder, but it is too early to comment."
