Yahoo Offers to Buy HotJobs, Trumping Proposal by TMP
Yahoo Inc. made an unsolicited offer to buy HotJobs Inc. for $436 million in cash and stock, topping a friendly all-stock bid from TMP Worldwide Inc. that was announced at the end of June.</br></br>Yahoo made its offer in the form of a "bear hug," in which a would-be buyer sends a letter to the target and then discloses it in an effort to pressure the target to negotiate. It is Yahoo's first unsolicited takeover effort.</br></br>HotJobs, New York, declined to comment. TMP Worldwide President and Chief Operating Officer James Treacey said, "We have a binding contract with HotJobs that we intend to fulfill." New York-based TMP isn't worried about Yahoo's bid. "What Yahoo is thinking, I don't know," Mr. Treacey said.</br></br>The latest offer, which values HotJobs, an Internet help-wanted site, at $10.50 a share, comes as Yahoo is seeking to broaden its offerings beyond advertising, which makes up about 80% of its annual revenues. Advertising in general is in the midst of one of the worst slumps in a decade, and the Web-portal company's revenue has fallen precipitously this year, partly due to the slump.</br></br>Yahoo's move to wrest HotJobs from TMP, which runs the Monster.com jobs Web site, comes as that deal is undergoing intense regulatory scrutiny.