Thursday, July 27, 2006

CareerBuilder.com Passes Largest Competitor

CareerBuilder.com Passes Largest Competitor in Revenue and Takes Over #1 Position in Industry

07-26-06 11:50 AM EST

CHICAGO, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- CareerBuilder.com, the nation's largest online job site with more than 1.5 million jobs and over 23 million unique visitors, is at the center of a major turn in the history of online recruitment. After leading the industry in job postings and traffic for more than two years, CareerBuilder.com has passed its largest competitor in U.S. revenue. This means CareerBuilder.com now commands the leadership position in all major categories of online recruitment in the U.S., delivering on its promise to take top ranking domestically before full expansion overseas.

Five years ago, CareerBuilder.com was an emerging contender in the online recruitment space, one-fifth the revenue size of the market leader(1). Setting the stage for success with cutting-edge technology, dedicated customer service and aggressive sales and marketing strategies, CareerBuilder.com grew its revenue annually by more than 75 percent and quickly closed the gap between it and its main competitor.

In the second quarter of 2006, CareerBuilder.com pulled ahead of its rival. The company and its local affiliates generated $172 million in market revenues in the U.S., $9 million more than its largest competitor in all of North America. For the first six months of the year, CareerBuilder's North American revenues were $329 million, compared to $323 million for its largest competitor.

"We know the greatest asset of any organization is its people, and we take our job of delivering world class talent very seriously," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com. "That's why employers and job seekers across the country now use CareerBuilder.com more than any other site. We offered a better solution and customers took notice, as evidenced in our leadership in job postings, traffic and revenue. We didn't invent the industry, but in five years, we have taken it over."

How did they do it? CareerBuilder.com built a distribution network of more than 900 partners and, in a bold maneuver, replaced its rival as the exclusive job search engine for America Online and MSN. While CareerBuilder.com's traffic soared, its competitor's dwindled.

At the same time, CareerBuilder.com unleashed a widely successful national marketing campaign valued at over $200 million. Critically acclaimed appearances in the Super Bowl TV ad lineup for the last two years punctuated a multifaceted marketing strategy that cleverly blended grassroots outreach with high profile venues.

Since January 2004, CareerBuilder.com has captured the most traffic in the industry every month, according to reports from comScore Media Metrix. The CareerBuilder network now draws more than 23 million unique visitors per month, approximately 9 million more than its largest competitor.

With more than 1,900 salespeople in-house and at its newspaper partners, the company has aggressively pushed forward into new markets and captured a greater portion of recruitment spend amongst FORTUNE 1000 and small and medium-sized businesses. For 40 consecutive months, CareerBuilder.com has posted the most jobs in the industry, according to Corzen. The company has experienced a 12-point gain in market share over the last two years and is certain to increase its share in 2006.

The company has also led the industry in technology advancement, creating a unique job matching functionality to hasten the job search process. The company serves on FAST Search & Transfer's Technology Advisory Board and works exclusively with FAST on product development for online recruitment, keeping CareerBuilder.com at the forefront of best-of-breed search engine technology.

"Working together with a network of over 900 partners and hundreds of thousands of customers, we have harnessed the power of the Internet to unite millions of employers and job seekers," said Ferguson. "We have helped businesses -- and people -- build their futures. We're grateful for the support from our customers and partners and promise to continue our tradition of excellence as we take our leadership to a global level."
(1) Morgan Stanley, "Publishing: The Publishing Handbook: June 16, 2006"
and CareerBuilder pro forma results.

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB), and The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 900 partners that reach national, local, industry and niche audiences. These include more than 150 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 250,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 18 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. Millions of job seekers visit the site every month to search for opportunities by industry, location, company and job type, sign up for automatic email job alerts, and get advice on job hunting and career management. For more information about CareerBuilder.com products and services, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact: Jennifer Sullivan 773-527-1164
Jennifer.Sullivan@careerbuilder.com

SOURCE CareerBuilder.com

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