CareerBuilder takes a slice of VON in Vietnam

The two sides announced the deal last week in Ho Chi Minh City, where Vietnam Online Network (VON) is based. However, no further transaction details were revealed.

“We don’t disclose the details of the partnership,” said Hunter Arnold, president of CareerBuilder Asia Pacific.

The acquisition would change the name of VON into CareerBuilder Vietnam, said VON CEO Paul Nguyen. The Vietnamese American said his firm was set up in 2004 to own and operate KiemViec.com and HRVietnam.com, with the former currently being Vietnam’s second largest career site by revenue.

Asked why he sold his company which has posted an annual growth rate of 80-150 per cent as he claimed, Nguyen said there were many benefits.

He said CareerBuilder and VON would bring Vietnam’s employers and workers a broader range of recruitment and job search resources. “Job seekers in Vietnam can now tap into the global job market, and global employers can recruit Vietnamese easier via a database system unified between CareerBuilder and VON.”

He said CareerBuilder had a broad suit of services and vast distribution network that would help his firm provide the best recruitment solutions to its clients and users. Nguyen added his firm would open a Hanoi office soon.

Arnold of CareerBuilder said: “The acquisition of VON provides us with an accelerated entry into the Vietnam market, an important step in our Asian expansion. The growth potential is high as we combine VON’s expertise with Vietnamese employers and CareerBuilder’s global reach and advance technology and services.”

Arnold added with the new partnership, his company now operated in 22 markets outside the U.S. and, through partnerships, had a presence in more than 60 markets worldwide.

Meanwhile, DFJ VinaCapital managing director Phuc Than said his venture capital fund already withdrew its investment in VON, which started in 2007, as the firm found a new giant partner. He pledged not to make investments into a Vietnamese company similar to VON for a period, but declined to say how long. Than did not reveal what per cent stake his fund had in VON.

DFJ VinaCapital is part of the VinaCapital family of funds, and a member of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) network. VinaCapital is Vietnam’s leading asset manager, with a portfolio of more than 1.5 billion in assets under management currently.

Nguyen said KiemViec.com had over one million registered jobseekers and attracted 400,000 visitors per month. It does not charge jobseekers any fees. Meanwhile, HRVietnam.com focuses on head hunting services and human resource solutions for employers.

CareerBuilder is a global leader in human capital solutions. It claims its online career site, CareerBuilder.com, is a major one in the U.S. with more than 24 million visitors, one million jobs and 50 million resumes.