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Malaysia –Jobstreet employees will be retained following acquisition by SEEK

01 October 2014

Following the expected acquisition of Malaysian job board JobStreet by SEEK Asia Investment, a subsidiary of Australian job board SEEK, the company has promised that current employees will be retained, reports bernama.com

Mark Chang, Chief Executive Office of JobStreet, said he had raised the issue during talks with SEEK management in February this year, and the Australian job board had no intention to carry out a retrenchment exercise: "SEEK CEO does not have any plan to retrench JobStreet staff, instead they plan to grow the company. He gave a verbal commitment, but what happen later it's up to the new owner."

In May 2014, JobStreet shareholders approved the sale of the company’s online job portal business. 

The company is selling off its entire online employment business in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam, for MYR 1.73 billion (USD 536.5 million). The deal is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2014.

The acquisition is subject to the approval of the Competition Commission of Singapore, to which SEEK has already given a three-year commitment not to enter into exclusive agreements with customers in order to preserve competition in the market.

In a statement, CCS said SEEK would aim to keep barriers to entry and expansion low, and preserve competition in the market for online recruitment advertising services. In other words, SEEK will operate in Singapore utilising more than one online recruitment advertising service platform.

Additionally, SEEK will be required to maintain current pricing of its services capped at present day rate cards or current day negotiated prices, subject to Consumer Price Index variations.

CCS had sought views from market participants to assist in its consideration of the proposed acquisition. In August, the CCS stated: “Following the market consultation, which shall continue until Sept 5, 2014, CCS will decide on their acceptance or rejection of the proposed [three-year] commitments.”

As of yet, there has been no comment from CCS on whether or not they have approved the acquisition.