Building on its position in energy industry recruiting, Dice Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DHX) (www.diceholdingsinc.com), a leading provider of specialized career web sites for professional communities, has completed the purchase of Rigzone (www.rigzone.com), a U.S. market leader in the oil and gas industry, delivering content, data, advertising, and career services. The purchase price comprises initial consideration of $39 million in cash and additional consideration to a maximum of $16 million in cash, payable upon the achievement of certain operating and financial goals through June 30, 2011.
JEGI CLARITY (www.jegiclarity.com) of New York, NY, the leading independent investment bank for media, information, marketing services, and related technologies, represented Rigzone in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.
“The acquisition of Rigzone extends our capabilities and strengthens our position in the highly attractive energy vertical,” said Scot Melland, Chairman, President & CEO of Dice Holdings, Inc. “The Rigzone and WorldwideWorker services complement each other with Rigzone’s traditional strength in North America and WorldwideWorker’s focus on the Middle East and emerging markets. And, both teams share a commitment to quality and a desire to serve the energy industry on a global basis.”
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.”
When an M&A deal is successfully completed, the ultimate praise from the seller to his investment banker is to say, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you.’ That phrase fully describes my feeling about JEGI CLARITY’s role in the sale of our business to Dice Holdings. JEGI CLARITY’s well-structured process, sound financial and strategic advice, as well as the firm’s determination were essential in getting the deal done. Hats off to the JEGI CLARITY team – you earned your fee many times over!
David Kent, President, Rigzone