Dice Holdings positioned itself to become a world leader in energy-industry recruitment advertising by acquiring Rigzone, which provides content, data, advertising and career services to the U.S. oil and gas industry.
With the acquisition three months ago of WorldWideWorker.com and today’s announcement about Rigzone, Dice Holdings has positioned itself as a strong international source of career advertising and services in the energy industry, Michael Durney, SVP, Finance and CFO, said in a press conference.
WorldWideWorker is focused on the Middle East and emerging markets. Durney said Dice plans to operate the two sites separately, although there likely will be efforts to coordinate sales for both. The leading competitor for both sites is OilCareers.com, based in the U.K., he said.
Known as the online gateway to the oil and gas industry, Rigzone is the world’s most-used source for upstream oil and gas news and data, including in-depth information on the exploration, drilling and production markets. Rigzone has built a valuable and largely-passive community with more than 500,000 unique visitors each month and more than 270,000 resumes in their database covering skills ranging from production operators to petroleum engineers.
“The Dice team has the strongest vision for the future direction of online recruiting, while recognizing the value of our unique and valuable content,” said David Kent, President of Rigzone. “We are truly excited about working with our colleagues from Des Moines to Dubai connecting top talent with organizations that are tackling the energy challenge.”
The purchase price consists of initial consideration of $39 million in cash. Additional consideration to a maximum of $16 million in cash is payable upon the achievement of certain operating and financial goals through June 30, 2011.
Durney said Rigzone had revenue of $8.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2010, and that it has rebounded from the weak economy more quickly than Dice’s other employment sites.
Rigzone’s 15 employees will join Dice and will remain based in Houston.
Dice Holdings also operates Dice.com, a recruitment site for technology industry employees; eFinancialCareers.com, based in the U.K.; ClearanceJobs.com, a site for jobs requiring U.S. government security clearances; and AllHealthCareJobs.com.
