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New job platform in Austria pits on German partner Jobware

Cristina Costa — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:03:53 +0000

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Cars.com focus dealer branding, finding buyers

Sharon Hill — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:38 +0000

FindingCarBuyers.com, a Cars.com site especially for dealers, showcases its media efforts to bring consumers to Cars.com dealer advertisers. One of the more interesting of the media resources, Internet radio, showcases Cars.com to Pandora and Spotify listeners with banner, video and audio ads and a one-day home page takeover of Pandora.com. FindingCarBuyers spells out the Cars.com 2012 media campaign. There’s nothing earth-shatteringly new here, but the effort to break this out into a dealer-focused site is noteworthy.

Additionally, while so much focus is now on pushing online vehicle-shoppers to the specific makes and models they might crave, and then providing an assortment of local dealers who have the car in stock, Cars.com has rolled out new features to help showcase specific dealers. It’s the first of many changes, according to the listing giant’s recent announcement.

The new BaseDrive package for dealers – an automatic upgrade in most markets – includes:

Reporting – Total contacts, broken down as count of ad prints, map views, clicks to dealership website, email leads, phone calls to the number supplied by Cars.com, and chat sessions. A contact is recorded anytime a user performs one of these activities. For example, a contact recorded when a shopper clicks to a dealer’s website. If that same shopper calls the dealer, an additional contact is recorded.
Video showcasing
Partnership network
Dealer Reviews by consumers – with the assistance of the Cars.com Reputation Management Tool Kit to make the most of the feature.
Chat
Mobile – both mobile-optimized site and apps, with Send-to-Phone feature so consumers can save their choice of vehicle listing.

Here’s the announcement, with more details.

Who’s gonna buy Monster Worldwide? Cheesman says … no one!

Peter M. Zollman — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:35:43 +0000

Joel Cheesman, formerly known as Cheezhead, is one of our favorite observers of the recruitment scene (along with John Zappe of ERE and formerly CIR). He’s just restarted a regular blog; you can sign up at bit.ly/notsfw. Here’s the latest installment, about the potential sale of Monster Worldwide including Monster.com. We may disagree — actually, we do — but this is an interesting viewpoint.

Wall Street was buzzing last week on rumors that LinkedIn (LNKD) was in talks to acquire Monster (MWW). According to a Reuters story, LinkedIn Corp and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners are among a number of parties that have expressed interest in a potential deal for Monster Worldwide Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, as the Internet jobs-search company is preparing data for potential buyers.

The stock shot up on the hype. However, Business Insider and a few others quickly squashed the report as bunk, accusing Monster of desperately trying to stir-up interest.

The thought of a high-growth business like LinkedIn strapping on an albatross like Monster is a bit ridiculous if you think about it for a second. So who, one like me must ask, would buy Monster?

As far as I can tell, the answer is: No one.

Yeah, nobody. John Doe. The invisible man.

Look: Facebook’s IPO is coming up, and analysts are crying about “decelerated growth” and staying the company doesn’t deserve its current valuation. So, knowing growth is what drives the markets, then you have to ask where Monster’s growth catalyst is? 6Sense? SeeMore? BeKnown? Be serious.

Aside from a massive hiring Renaissance, I don’t see any significant growth on the horizon. And certainly nothing to get a buyer all hot-and-bothered.

That said, if a buyer does come out of the woodwork, it’s likely to have Asian roots, hoping to get a foothold in the U.S. and other markets Monster serves. 51Job perhaps? With a market cap greater than Monster’s, it’s possible. Seek.com.au out of Australia perhaps? Nah. Someone out of Europe? It’s kind of a mess there at the moment, in case you didn’t get the memo.

Time will obviously tell. This year’s presidential election will be interesting for business. But methinks there will be no savior riding into to town on a white Trumpasaurus.

Deal personalization drove Groupon growth

Sharon Hill — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:37:20 +0000

Groupon just reported an 89 percent revenue jump for Q1 2012, compared with the same quarter of 2011. In North America its 75 percent growth was attributed in part to deal personalization, a targeting tool that will soon launch internationally. Groupon customers grew YOY 140 percent, to 36.9 million, with sales from repeat buyers 150 percent of those “doing a deal” for the first time. The new Groupon Rewards loyalty program, only in certain major markets at this point, brought 2500 merchants into the Daily Deals fold. More than half of first-time merchants returned to place later Deals with the site.

Market research firm ForeSee was commissioned to study both merchant and customer satisfaction with Groupon. The Daily Deals behemoth scored an 83 with customers and 79 with merchants, way ahead of most online retailers.

The jump from 25 percent to 30 percent mobile access from December 2011 to March 2012 may have been the catalyst for the new “up-to-the-minute” Groupon Now success, with 1.5 million Now deals sold.

With past store-owner complaints that Groupon was being far too selective in its choice of who could offer Deals, it’s nice to see that merchants are declaring their happiness with a Deals site. We suspect that merchant approval is partly due to the Groupon Merchant Center, where merchants can track response, administer and see the history of their deals, and manage their Groupon Rewards activity. Here’s the earnings report.

Affidata plays Anglophone card

steve shipside — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:47:49 +0000

Affidata.co.uk, the U.K. arm of Dutch property portal Affidata has hit on the idea of launching geolocalised searches showing English-speaking agents in the desired area to help English buyers looking for second homes. Given the notorious unwillingness of the English to speak another language, combined with their love of homes abroad the move seems entirely logical. Naturally if it proves popular it will immediately be reproduced by all the larger portals so Affidata’s first-mover status will be studied keenly by Rightmove, DPG et al.

Leading Israeli newspaper to charge for access

brian blum — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:12:26 +0000

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has decided to join a growing number of publications worldwide that are charging for access to their websites and mobile apps.

Haaretz made its announcement with the upbeat proclamation of “the start of a new era,” adding that it “will enable us to provide you with accurate and comprehensive news coverage, analyses and commentary on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.”

The revamped site, which went live on Monday morning, is slightly more content heavy than its predecessor, but not enough to warrant such a rosy declaration, in our opinion.

Haaretz’s new digital subscriptions pricing plan mirrors that of The New York Times – no charge for access to a limited number of articles per month (only 10 vs. 20 at The Times) with the front page always free and the rest nestled behind a pay wall. Print subscribers will get access to the whole kit and kaboodle. A subscription will cover all digital platforms: web and mobile (both smart phones and tablets).

Also, as with The Times, savvy users can bypass the access limitations by typing the name of an article of interest into Google.

Haaretz’s aping The New York Times makes sense: its daily English language edition is bundled with The International Herald Tribune, The Times’ version for Europe and the “rest of the world.”

While we are all for newspapers trying out ways to better monetize their offerings in tough times, sequestering content for paying subscribers works only if you’re the undisputed leader in your space: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist have all succeeded. Other attempts to cut free access have too often failed.

So, is Haaretz the clear king of the Israeli news space? Their Hebrew edition certainly has elements of The New York Times, particularly in terms of its writing, columnists, features and investigative reporting. It also has the fastest news coverage, making it the go-to site after a terrorist attack or midnight coalition re-alignment, But the online competition – in English, in particular – is fierce in Israel. The Jerusalem Post’s website has far more readers than Haaretz; indeed, it’s the web’s number one English language site on Israel and Jewish subjects in terms of traffic.

More recently, a new paper – The Times of Israel – has come on the scene. Launched earlier this year by the former editor of The Jerusalem Post and backed by an investor with pockets deep enough to cover the first two years of operation, the writing is uniformly excellent, superior even than to Haaretz (which consists of direct translations from Hebrew). The Times of Israel also borrows a page from The Huffington Post, making liberal use of (unpaid) bloggers.

Haaretz has one thing going for it that the other English-language online Israeli news sites don’t, though: a top-notch mobile app. The Times of Israel’s David Horowitz says that a smart phone app is on the newspaper’s development horizon but, in the meantime, a browser version optimized for mobile will be out soon.

Will Haaretz succeed where others have faltered? The company has high hopes, ending its announcement on a decidedly cheery note:

As we approach our first centennial, we hope you will join us as we embark on a new chapter in our history, one in which will pledge our allegiance to maintaining the standards of journalistic excellence and integrity that are the bedrock of Haaretz as we explore the new frontiers of the modern digital age.

Digital poised to become Springer’s biggest revenue-generator

Christoffel Volschenk — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:07:32 +0000

By Christo Volschenk
Axel Springer, one of Germany’s leading media groups, is about to make history. When its digital division replaces its newspaper division as the group’s biggest revenue-generator in the second quarter, Axel Springer will be the first multimedia group in Germany to rid itself of its dependence on print to become a digital-driven media group.

The group released its financial results for the first quarter recently. In the quarter group revenue grew to €789 million ($1 billion U.S.) from €736 million in the 1Q last year (+7 percent) and the digital division’s share in group revenue rose to a whopping 33 percent, the company said. (Read full statement here).

The digital division’s share in total revenue is climbing so fast, that the declared goal of growing it to 50 percent of total revenue suddenly seems very realistic. On the way to that goal, another important psychological barrier will be removed first – maybe already in the second quarter. That’s when the digital division may overtake the local newspaper division to become Axel Springer’s biggest revenue-generating division.

The digital division came very close to that goal in the first quarter, when digital’s revenue rose strongly to €263 million from €202 million, while the division local newspapers contributed a stagnating €276 million. So, at the end of the 1Q the gap was just €13 million.

The digital division also grew its EBITDA 82 percent to €47 million, while its EBITDA margin climbed 5 percentage points to 17.8 percent .

Dr. Mathias Döpfner, chief executive officer of Axel Springer, said: “In line with our defined digitization strategy, we strengthened our digital division with the acquisition of the British online recruiting firm Totaljobs.com and launch of (coupon portal) KaufDA in Russia”.

So, Axel Springer is successful and confident. All the more reason to look south – to Switzerland, where the joint-venture RingierAxelSpringer is head-quartered.

Axel Springer and Swiss media group Ringier merged their businesses in Eastern Europe in 2010 in a 50:50 partnership. It was supposed to be a partnership of equals in every respect – also as far as management is concerned.

But, recently, Ringier’s contribution to the management expertise of RingierAxelSpringer got very thin – at least at the very top. To the point where success-spoiled Axel Springer may start wondering whether it is alone in the project.

Here is how each partner contributes:

In the 4-seat board 2 seats are occupied by Axel Springer people and 2 by Ringier appointees. The president and director are Springer representatives, while the vice-president and CFO are Ringier nominees. Until recently Ringier was represented by Christian Unger and Tobias Schulz-Isenbeck. When both defected recently, Ringier was forced to fall back on younger representatives.
In the 3-man executive two (Mr. Fels and Mr. Dekan) are Axel Springer appointees and the third (Mr. Boos) is an outside appointment. So, here Ringier contributes nothing.

So, at the highest level Axel Springer seems to be calling the tune – at least for now. On the next management level things are more evened out:

Of the 7 divisional heads 4 are Ringier appointees (Mr. Korner, Mr. Späth, Mr. Mauron and Mrs. Delvenakiotis) and 3 Axel Springer appointees (Mrs. Kruse, Mr. Reimelt and Mr. Dauck).
On the level of the country managers Ringier seems to have the edge – of 4 country managers, 3 are Ringier appointees (Mrs. Smuclerova for Czech Republic, Mr. Mertus for Slovakia, Mrs. Drakulic-Petrovic for Serbia) and 1 is a Springer appointee (Mrs. Sadokska for Poland). But, Poland is by far the most important country. So, also here Axel Springer seems to be making an above-average contribution.

The question is: how much longer before Axel Springer gets itchy feet?

Certifikid: Perhaps not a win-win-win

Sharon Hill — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:47 +0000

This post is for AIMGroup / Classified Intelligence clients. Clients can enter the password below. Not a client yet? See our Become a Client page.

Job boards still No. 1 for hiring in U.K.

steve shipside — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:30:12 +0000

Evenbase‘s latest quarterly review of the U.K. recruiter market shows that job boards remain the means of choice for companies looking to hire, with a 6 percent drop in the use of agencies to find staff, a result which Evenbase attributes to HR departments aiming to minimise recruitment spend.

The review also reveals a 27 percent fall in the number of vacancies being advertised. That has resulted in job hunters becoming increasingly proactive with 63 percent of candidates registering on between two and five different job boards (up 13 percent on the last quarter).

Candidates also seem to demand more of their job boards in tight times with 45 percent of candidates polled say they require more from job boards in terms of company information and industry trends.

Mike Wall, MD of Evenbase’s Job Boards division, comments; “There are some encouraging signs that people are still prepared to consider moving jobs, despite a fall in the number of overall vacancies. In particular, many job seekers are looking for ways to stay competitive in a difficult market, and they seem to have some specific companies in mind for their next move. Both are indications that there may yet be increased activity in 2012.”

Rightmove registers 20 percent traffic increase

steve shipside — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:36:07 +0000

U.K. property market leader Rightmove has published its Interim Management Statement for Jan. 1 to May 9 and the figures are looking good with a 20 percent traffic increase over the same period in 2011. The company enjoyed a record month in January with over a billion page impressions. Rightmove also notes that access via mobile apps “has been of particular note, in terms of rate of growth”, but doesn’t give figures.

The company is pinning its hopes for the future on a reported rise in ARPA (average revenue per advertiser) reporting that, “Over 75 percent of agents and new-home developers are now taking at least one additional product and over 30 percent of their spend in April was on additional advertising products”. This goes some way to counterbalancing the admission that the total number of advertisers has not risen over last year.

Zoopla buys UpMyStreet

steve shipside — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:24:21 +0000

Zoopla has just turned another page in the history of British property portals with the acquisition of UpMyStreet – one of the earliest property sites in the country.

UpMyStreet dates back to 1998 and survived the original dotcom boom before running into financial troubles in 2003. It was sold to uSwitch which was in turn bought by EW Scripps and then passed on to the Forward Internet group in 2009 but the company that now finds itself in Zoopla’s hands is a bit of a spent brand mostly of worth for the 1.1 million unique visitors it attracts (Comscore, March 2012).

Zoopla already attracts three times that many. Just what Zoopla paid to have that traffic redirected has not been disclosed, and Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman simply notes that; “This acquisition is a natural fit for us and allows us to further extend our audience and reach for the benefit of our members.”

Facebook testing classified upsells

Peter M. Zollman — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:52:23 +0000

The “freemium” business model is now the growing global default for classified ad business models — where the ad is free but the advertiser can pay a small fee for highlighting it, promoting it, extending it or otherwise making it more prominent.

Enter Facebook.

Just a few days before its initial public offering, Facebook is testing a freemium model for classifieds and other “highlighted posts.”

(We learned about it from Mashable.com, which in turn learned about it from the New Zealand blog “Stuff.” We haven’t yet had a chance to get confirmation from Facebook or follow up. We’ll do that next week, but Facebook is in a “quiet period” under securities laws and we don’t know whether they’ll talk at all.)

Facebook told Mashable “highlighted posts” is in a limited test, with prices ranging from nothing to “a couple of bucks. Two examples of potential “highlight” users the company gave were someone selling a car, or a band promoting an appearance. Mashable said highlighted posts could make Facebook a competitor to Craigslist. (Well, isn’t just about everybody?)

The Mashable piece includes a screenshot of one example of a purchase screen.

Monetize, monetize, monetize. We hate the word, but it’s something Facebook had better be doing. Because once it goes public, the pressure for increased revenue will be relentless.

Schibsted Q1 results – classifieds grow 19 percent

Linda Karlsson — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:57:27 +0000

By Linda Karlsson
Today Schibsted ASA released its Q1 2012 results, which shows operating revenue grew 5 percent to NOK 3.6 billion ($0.6 billion U.S.) compared to the same period in 2011. The classifieds division increased its revenue by 19 percent, Schibsted said.

EBITDA amounted to NOK 421 million in Q1 2012, compared to NOK 439 million in Q1 2011. The small drop can be ascribed to expenditure on new ventures in the division Online classifieds of NOK 140 million. In Q1 2011 it amounted to only NOK 70 million (read the table below).

Blocket spent resources on building new income models, which it hopes will ensure long-term growth, as well as on launching new products in both the real estate and the recruitment segments.

Finn.no grew its revenue by 18 percent. At all of Finn’s verticals growth was driven by a combination of price and volume increases, as well as the development of new products and revenue categories. The auto segment grew by 22 percent and recruitment increased revenue by 20 percent. The real estate segment saw underlying growth of 16 percent.

Operating revenue for Leboncoin.fr, one of the largest online classifieds sites in Europe, increased 63 percent in Q1. Subito.it in Italy and Willhaben.at in Austria also strengthened their positions as market leaders.

Schibsted Media Group is increasing its effort as far as the rolling out of classified sites in new markets is concerned. In Q1 the investment allocated to this expense was EUR 9.5 million higher than in Q1 2011. In most of these markets clones of the successful Swedish Blocket concept are launched.

Etsy now B Corp, gets $40 mil from VC

Sharon Hill — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:23:31 +0000

Etsy has just made two major changes. It is now a B Corporation, “a new kind of company that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems,” according to the handmade marketplace’s announcement. Additionally, it has gone back to the same venture capital wells for another $40 million for international expansion. The latter has some wondering if the site is overvalued at this point. Here’s The Wall Street Journal’s report on the matter.

Read the B corp announcement here.

CareerBuilder exec joins corporate boards

Peter M. Zollman — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:17:18 +0000

Brent Rasmussen of CareerBuilder is going to be one busy guy. In addition to his responsibilities as president for North America at the recruitment site, he’s joined two corporate boards in the past month.

Rasmussen is now on the board of Central Desktop, a collaboration and file-sharing site, and Balihoo, “the premier provider of local marketing automation technology and services.”

“Central Desktop has made amazing strides in collaboration. The company’s SocialBridge online collaboration platform squarely addresses the challenges that creative agencies and marketing teams face daily in their operations by providing solutions to project collaboration needs that have not been effectively met by other offerings in the marketplace,” he said.

As for Balihoo, he said it’s “changing the way companies go to market and connect with consumers. … It’s exciting to serve on the board of a fast-growing company that is redefining local marketing for national brands.”

Both companies are privately held. Balihoo has received more than $17.5 in venture, angel and seed funding.

Rasmussen has been with CareerBuilder for more than 10 years, and has served as SVP of sales and COO before becoming president for North America. He’s considered an expert on employment who speaks regularly at conferences and appears frequently on television business programs. He’s also president of CB Cares, an internal group at CareerBuilder that supports educational mentoring and charitable fundraising.

Before joining CareerBuilder, he spent nine years at Xerox Corp. He’s got an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

EBay’s BilBasen intensifies user focus

Linda Karlsson — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:16:48 +0000

By Linda Karlsson
Today, EBay relaunched the Danish No. 1 auto classified site BilBasen with a new design. This step is part of the site’s effort to get more user-friendly. According to EBay, the focus on cars is now clearer. The pictures of the cars are bigger and all possible distracting features on the site, such as banner ads, have been removed. (See screenshot of new site below.)

“Users can focus on the cars. I think we are sending a strong signal to users and customers with this new strategy,” says BilBasen manager Anders. A. Andersson in a statement.

The new mobile search platform is also part of this strategy. It was downloaded more than 50,000 times last month.

“We don’t aim to have as many page views as possible anymore, but the opposite,” added Anders A. Andersson. “Instead, we want the users to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.”

The top mobile job apps

brian blum — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:04:41 +0000

The JobMob website has a list of more than 100 mobile apps that can help with a job search or an employer posting a position. Here’s a summary of some of the best (for the full 100, visit the JobMob website). These are specific for the iPhone (although there may be Android versions too; we didn’t check). We’re just going to include names, links and a one-line summary here – otherwise this might be our longest blog post ever!

Job openings

Job Compass – find jobs near you, set a 5-100 mile radius.

Jobs Near Me – uses GPS to find jobs within 30 miles of your location.

Snagajob – see a map of nearby hourly jobs. Zoom in to see details.

Real-Time Jobs – like the name says, search for jobs in real time.

Job Frenzy (paid) – find jobs on your iPhone and mail them to yourself.

Now Hiring (paid) – search from major job sites, filter, email jobs.

Job Finder (paid) – aggregates jobs from major sites by category.

iJobs – find jobs on your iPhone.

Beyond.com Search – mobile app of Beyond.com.

Jobs by Career Builder – CareerBuilder.com’s mobile job app.

Monster.com Jobs – Monster.com’s mobile job app.

Simply Hired – SimplyHired.com’s mobile job app.

Techcareers.com: Search Jobs & Find A Career in IT and Engineering

JobAware: Job search just got smarter – same idea but very pretty.

Legal Jobs Centre – search for law jobs.

BeyondExecutives.com – Search Executive Jobs (paid) – exec level jobs.

Phillyjobs.com: Search Jobs & Find a Career In Philadelphia

BeyondSanDiego.com: Search Jobs & Find a Career in San Diego, CA

JobServe Connect Local – California Jobs

JobServe Connect Local – Georgia Jobs

Retail Moves Job Search – search is for the U.K.

HealthcareJobsite.com: Search Jobs & Find a Career in Healthcare

Craigster (paid) – search Craigslist.

Get Apps Done – a job search app for app developers.

Job search tools

Career Search (paid) – research information on 1,000 careers.

IGetAJob – organizes information during a job search.

Good Job (paid) – set tasks, interviews and follow-ups.

Job Search Manager: Get A New Job With Prospector (paid)

My Jobs: Job Search Organizer (free and paid versions)

Resume App (paid) – streamlines the process of building a resume.

Pocket Resume (paid) – another resume creator.

Job search advice

Job Search: Tips to Find the Best Career for You – videos, career advice.

Interview Pro (paid) – how to interview more effectively.

JobRadio.FM – app to stream this career advice Internet radio station.

Great Career (paid) – helps define what career you want.

vTie Necktie Guide – ever wondered how to tie a necktie.

Job interviewing

What Color Is Your Parachute? Job-Interview Tool – classic is now an app.

Interview Guru (paid) – improve interviewing skills.

InterviewBuddy – focuses on tech interviews.

Social media

BeKnown – Monster.com’s social media Facebook app.

CareerBliss – a career community.

Internships

Internship Seeker – does what the name suggests.

CareerRookie – also includes entry level and part time jobs for recent grads.

Freelancers

iFreelancer – includes push notification.

For employers

CareerBuilder for Employers – CareerBuilder.com’s app for employers.

Snagajob – ForEmployers – so does Snagajob.

BusyBee – lets employers post freelance jobs.

JobSpeek – lets you create a 60-second audio hiring message + picture.

More Money for Mojo Motors

Sharon Hill — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:26:01 +0000

Boston-based personalized used-car shopping startup Mojo.com has expanded beyond its Mass., Rhode Island and Conn. roots, with help from $3 million in new VC money. Now Dallas / Fort Worth area car shoppers can get their Mojo on too. The site was founded last year by Paul Nadjarian, who has been Sr. manager for dealers solutions at Ford, and director of EBay Motors.

Here’s the announcement:

Mojo Motors Fuels Up for Expansion with $3 Million in Funding for Used Car Buying Platform

Used Car Website is Cruising with Rapid Growth and New Funding from Atlas Venture and Returning Investors

NEW YORK, May 08, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — MojoMotors.com, the leading used car deals platform, today announced that it has closed a $3 million funding round with Atlas Venture and existing investors including RPM Ventures, NextView Ventures, and others. Ryan Moore of Atlas Ventures will join the company’s board of directors. Mojo Motors will use the funds to expand outside its beta market of Boston, scale marketing efforts, and continue to develop the Mojo platform.

“Mojo Motors brings real innovation to the used car marketplace,” said Atlas Venture partner Ryan Moore. “With nearly 40 million used cars sold per year, it’s a huge market ripe for disruption.”

Launched in 2011 by eBay Motors and Ford Motor Company veteran Paul Nadjarian, MojoMotors.com is the first website to bring customized price alerts and exclusive member discounts to used car shoppers. Mojo Motors has completed a successful beta in the greater Boston area, and plans to expand into more major markets during 2012.

“Mojo does the hard work, finding great deals on used cars while providing extra savings to members,” said Mojo Motors CEO Paul Nadjarian. “Just join, surf the cars that you like, and we’ll start sending you deals as they happen.”

About Mojo Motors

Founded by Internet and auto industry veterans, Mojo Motors helps car shoppers find discounts on used cars and trucks at local dealerships. After signing up for a free account, Mojo members have access to exclusive discount prices on thousands of vehicles and receive personalized alerts when dealers drop prices.

SOURCE: Mojo Motors, Inc.

Xing in textbook switch of CEOs

Christoffel Volschenk — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:52:16 +0000

By Christo Volschenk
When the 4-year contract of Xing CEO Stefan Groß-Selbeck (44) runs out in January 2013, he will not be available for a second 4-year term. The listed company announced today that Groß-Selbeck elected not to renew his contract and will leave the company in January 2013 “to accept new challenges”. Xing is the leading business network and biggest social recruitment medium in the German-speaking region.

The switch at the top was orchestrated in perfect textbook fashion – from the early announcement, careful avoidance of uncertainty and rumor-mongering, and clear communication, to the simultaneous announcement of the successor.

Groß-Selbeck will be succeeded by Thomas Vollmoeler (52), who is at this stage still acting-CEO of Swiss-based trade and logistics firm Valora Holding. Vollmoeler will start at Xing on Aug. 15 as board director and will take up his duties as CEO on Jan. 15, 2013, Xing announced (read full media statement in English here).

When Groß-Selbeck switched from EBay to Xing in January 2009, we were skeptical about his management abilities, but we were wrong. Under his leadership Xing successfully launched new products in the areas of e-recruiting, advertising and events, grew the membership and tripled revenue. He oversaw the acquisition of event manager Amiando and the growth of the staff size from 160 to 450. In many ways the Xing of today is a vastly different animal from the one in January 2009.

Dr. Stefan Groß-Selbeck

In March 2009 we asked (here) whether Xing has what it takes to become more than a German-only network. Four years later it seems not. The only criticism one could, perhaps, level at Groß-Selbeck, is that Xing painted itself in a corner under his leadership. A “German-only corner”, where the prospects for future growth are limited. More about that here.

But, that’s Vollmoeler’s challenge now.

Targeting women? Head to Pinterest

Sharon Hill — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:54:05 +0000

By Sharon Hill

If your publication, classified site or firm seeks to target a specific demographic, the latest study by Online MBA would be helpful indeed. The higher-education service site learned the following:

Women make up a whopping 82 percent of Pinterest users
Forty six percent of Facebook users are 45 years of age or older
Of the 90 million Google+ users 71 percent are male, and the largest group are young engineers and other technical professionals. Nearly 44 percent are single.
The top reason 5.5 million monthly visitors turn to Reddit is for humor. Visitors stay more than 16 minutes on average – more than twice that of time spent on LinkedIn. [Additionally, Reddit recruitment listings launched in 2009; as of today 3360 openings are listed, and 3950 candidates have posted their availability. ]

There’s much more in this insightful infographic. Mashable reported the details, including the graphic below.