Job Portals – A Media Business ?

A few years back it was Times Group of India who entered the online recruitment business and got hold of 32% market share in less than 10 months of time. Now it is TV18 who entered the scene.

JobStreetCorporation , a Malaysian company signed MOU TV18 this march. Tv18 is to invest $2 million into JobStreet India. They will also be providing media support for the portal.

"Over the last five years, TV18 has consistently invested in and built successful Internet franchises in India. The Group already owns India's most widely used online platforms — moneycontrol.com, commoditiescontrol.com, poweryourtrade.com and ibnlive.com. The Group has also recently seeded yatra.in in partnership with Norwest Venture Partners (NVP)." Says TV18 Group, CEO, Haresh Chawla.

N Muralidharan, managing director JobStreet India, says that no formal enterprise valuation is done nor any timeframe has been set to convert the MOU into a proper share purchase agreement. However the media support given by the television channel will be taken into account as and when the valuation is made.

The major player in the market Naukari.com, with a stake of 52%, already investing huge amounts for TV-advertising. They are also in the process of settling an agreement with Eenadu, the biggest selling news paper in South India and having 14 local channels.

This deal gives Naukari.com a great reach not only in meteors but also in second tier cities , where now a days a greater chunk of employed youth are living. Hence this deal may give Naukari.com a clear edge over it’s other competitors.

What could have weighed in JobStreet India's favour is its software Impact that helps in streamlining the entire recruitment process. According to Muralidharan, around 35 Indian corporates are using this software, installed in the website of the client, as an application software provider .

"The deal will not have a major impact on the existing players. But it will make life tough for new entrants and those who plan new operations in India", GSRK Prasad CEO, a2Hr.com, a Bangalore based recruitment firm. According to him there are around 30 job sites in India and more are coming.

TimesJobs CEO Rajeev Gaur categorically stated, "This business is essentially a media business, and therefore it is best done by a media company. Reach is a constraint for most players in the business."

The business has grown by 30% in the last three years and now the market is of around 200 crores. And it is expected that it grows the same way for at least another 4 years.

With new jobsites coming almost every week, and with media giants entering the market with huge capitals, it’s obvious that  the employers will have tough time in choosing the best