Third-quarter revenue fell 4.5% in constant currency at Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., the world’s fifth-largest staffing firm. Job postings fell at Indeed and Glassdoor, both of which are owned by the Tokyo-based company. Revenue also fell at the company’s matching and solutions segment in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023. However, staffing revenue at the firm edged up with an increase in Japan, though it fell in Europe, the US and Australia.

Indeed and Glassdoor — which comprise the company’s HR technology segment — saw revenue fall 17.2% when measured in US dollars in the third quarter.

Job postings, both free and paid, fell year over year in the US and other countries even as traffic to the sites increased. The number of unique visitors per month on Indeed was more than 350 million globally.

In the US, revenue at Indeed and Glassdoor fell by 21.3% in the fiscal third quarter, while non-US revenue fell 6.3%.

Recruit also reported that Indeed has officially sunsetted pay-per-application pricing.

Looking at Recruit’s staffing segment, revenue there rose 0.6% year over year. Japanese staffing revenue increased 10.9%, but international staffing revenue from Europe, the US and Australia fell 6.9% on a constant currency basis. Recruit noted international staffing demand slowed against an uncertain economic outlook.

Recruit’s staffing operations in the US include Staffmark Group LLC and The CSI Cos. Inc.

Recruit’s third operating segment is matching and solutions, where revenue fell 3.9% on a reported basis. The segment includes HR consulting and recruitment in Japan, permanent recruitment in Asia and nonstaffing marketing platforms such as Hot Pepper Beauty, Hot Pepper Gourmet, and Jalan, an online travel website.

The HR solutions portion of the matching and solutions segment saw third-quarter revenue fall 0.8% on a reported basis, while marketing solutions revenue rose 7.1%.

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Guidance

Recruit expects fourth-quarter revenue to rise 0.3% year over year. However, it forecast revenue to be down 0.9% for its full fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.

In HR technology, the company expects fourth-quarter revenue to be flat on a US dollar basis and fall approximately 15.5% year over year.

Matching and solutions revenue is expected to be down 4.5% in the fourth quarter.

In its Staffing division, Recruit forecast Japanese staffing revenue will rise 5% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter, while Europe, US and Australia revenue will be up 1%.

For the full year, Japanese staffing revenue is expected to increase 10%, but Europe, US and Australia staffing revenue is expected to fall 2%.

Share price

Shares in Recruit closed up 0.51% today, Feb. 9, in Tokyo to ¥5,887 (US$39.52). They were 7.34% below their 52-week high.