In a move that would indicate that it is not a likely buyer for Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:MNST), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has taken a 4% stake in CareerBuilder, the online job site controlled by three newspaper chains. This investment is hard to understand.
Microsoft gets a small stake in a business that may be valuable, but has competition from Yahoo!'s Inc. (NASD:YHOO) Hotjobs and a number of smaller sites. There have been rumors that Monster will be bought by one of the big web portals to increase access to the fast-growing online job business. The tiny equity deal with CareerBuilder seems to rule MSN out of that race.
Gannett Co. (NYSE:GCI), The Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB), and McClatchy Co. (NYSE:MNI) run CareerBuilder as a way to keep revenue from job classified ads that is moving from newspapers to the Web..
Caree Builder is the exclusive online job provider for Microsoft's MSN portal. That deal will be extened to 2013, and Microsoft will be paid about $443 million for maintaining the arrangement.
And, MSN could use all of the help it can get.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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