dice goes public
July 18th, 2007
We don’t talk about Dice very much - maybe it’s because they’re headquartered on some other planet called Urbandale, Iowa - but we should.
The site and its network has quietly become a juggernaut over the years - not just as a niche player, but amongst everyone. That said, the company went public today as Dice Holdings, Inc. (DHX), and it’s probably fair to say a lot of CEOs and investors in our space are rooting for them.
On a down day, the stock ended right about where it started, after a nice spike, around $13-per-share and an initial valuation of $805.5 million.
Unfortunately, because of some SEC rules and regulations, the company is tight-lipped with the press (I guess that includes bloggers). However, I was able to get a little something in a statement from Scot Melland, Chairman, President and CEO.
Dice Holdings, Inc. celebrates a new era today as a publicly traded company, said Melland. Our new status reflects the hard work and dedication of Dice Holdings employees around the world. This is an exciting time for the Company. We look forward to helping our customers source and hire the most qualified professionals in select and highly skilled occupations, and to providing those professionals with the best job opportunities in their respective fields.
Hopefully we can get some juicier stuff after their 25-day quiet period. In the meantime, kudos to Dice. We’ll have our eyes on this stock.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Congratulations to Scott and the team!
They have done a great job at bringing DICE back from some major hurdles…
Here is a little of their short history.
* In 1990, DICE was started by Lloyd Lynn, a truck driver, as a Bulletin Board Service, where you would have a fax modem call their BBS, and it would respond with job postings. (This was 5 years BEFORE Netscape went public, and essentially changed the Web!)
* In 1999, EarthWeb purchased DICE. Basically sucking DICE’s revenue stream as their other
products and services (Dot bomb hype) died.
* In 2001, 95% (or so) of DICE’s clients were Technical Recruiters. At that time, they didn’t even sell to Direct Employers.
* Then 9/11. Employment stops… and Recruiters go out of business. At the peak, DICE had about 130,000 technical jobs on their website. At the end of 2002, then had approximately 20,000+ jobs, and had lost almost all of their previous technical recruiting clients, as many of the smaller recruiting firms went out of business.
* In 2002, I think, DICE start selling directly to Employers. Sales pick up, but are slow, because they have no Brand with Directors of Recruitment, at the time.
With great focus, and great leadership, DICE has always been a great Niche Job Board. Their expansion into multiple vertical niche markets should be considered a Tipping Point.
Remember this day… July 17, 2007, the employment market went Niche!
$800 Million is a lot of money for segment of the market that has previously never had a leader, money, or branding…. that is all about to change.
Congratulations!