Chinese Internet recruitment website ChinaHR.com reportedly may be sold by its parent company Monster at a price as low as CNY55 million.
According to public files, Monster already started seeking sales of ChinaHR in November 2012. In the third quarter of 2012, Monster made net losses of USD194.2 million; meanwhile the losses of ChinaHR.com reached USD233 million. Monster said that it hoped to reduce operating costs by selling ChinaHR.com.
In 2005, Monster invested USD50 million in the acquisition of a 40% stake in ChinaHR.com. At the beginning of 2006, Monster invested additional USD19.9 million for a 5% stake. In 2008, the company acquired the remaining 55% stake in the Chinese website for USD174 million. By then, the valuation of ChinaHR.com was about USD316 million, while Monster invested USD243 million in the acquisition of the entire stake of the Chinese company.
However, ChinaHR.com has been making losses after the acquisition and its market share continued to decline. Rumors on Hexun.com state the company may be offloaded for as little as CNY55 million, or about USD8.8 million.