58.com confirms acqusition of deeply troubled ChinaHR jobs site

After a week of intensifying rumors that Chinese classifieds giant 58.com was interested in buying ChinaHR, all doubts have been laid to rest. On Friday, 58.com confirmed that it has acquired ChinaHR for an undisclosed sum.

It’s not clear exactly what ChinaHR is worth at the moment, but 58.com can’t have paid much. ChinaHR, a site Monster.com purchased for US$240 million in the hopes of capturing China’s job market, was such a failure that it was sold for just US$30 million a few years later in 2013.

Things have not gone any better since, with the company continuing to post losses. This week, rumors spread of clients closing their accounts and massive layoffs, and a leaked internal email announced that all employees’ contracts with its former parent company have been terminated. Reportedly, 58.com just bought the site for its assets, and does not intend to continue operating it as-is, although it will take the brand and potentially hire some of the apparently-now-jobless ChinaHR team.

So is this the end of the world as we know it for ChinaHR? Quite possibly – it really depends what, if anything, 58.com plans to do with the brand. But it seems more likely that this could be the start of something better for China’s most beleaguered jobs site. 58.com certainly has the money and the market share to bring ChinaHR to a level it has never reached in the past.

(Source: Sina Tech)