Monster Worldwide, Inc. today reported total revenue declined 31% to $254 million, compared with $366 million in the comparable quarter of 2008.
During the Q1 earnings call, Timothy Yates, Monster’s CFO, addressed operating expenses, including layoffs both here and in China since acquiring ChinaHR.com last year.
“Excluding ChinaHR, we ended the first quarter with almost 400 fewer associates compared with the fourth quarter of 2008,” Yates said. “We also reduced headcount in China by nearly 300 full time associates and a significant number of temporary employees during the first quarter. As a result, total headcount declined 10 percent.”
The layoffs aren’t the only cutbacks that occurred.
Sal Iannuzzi, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Monster, said that more restructuring and reorganizing with regards to the company’s operations are currently in effect. “This quarter we’ve made decisions which impact the compensation of all our employees. Merit increases, 401K contributions, and cash incentive compensation have been suspended this year. Any incentive compensation for 2009 will only be paid in the form of four year vesting equity…these actions ensure that our employees will share in our growth as the economy recovers.”
Iannuzzi also addressed the Trovix acquisition. “Last year we acquired Trovix to further ramp up our internal technology to provide seekers with more targeted searches. All indications are that Trovix will provide dramatic improvement in results. We are confident we will execute a full implementation by the end of the year with a customer beta roll-out in May.”
Here are the highlights of the revenue disclosure:
Monster generated 43% of its revenue outside the United States and total revenue was negatively impacted by $27 million from unfavorable foreign exchange rates.
Careers non-GAAP revenue decreased 34% to $224 million as North America generated revenue of $119 million, compared with $184 million in the prior year period. International non-GAAP revenue was $105 million, a 32% decline over the prior year period, or a 22% decline excluding currency and the contribution from ChinaHR. Internet Advertising & Fees revenue increased 6% to $32 million over last year’s first quarter.
Consolidated operating expenses were $269 million, and the loss from continuing operations was $10 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to income from continuing operations of $24 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, in the comparable 2008 period.
Income from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2009 includes the following pre-tax pro forma adjustments: $11.0 million of expenses associated with the Company’s restructuring plan; $3.0 million of legal fees, primarily related to the Company’s obligation to indemnify former officers for their defense in connection with the ongoing litigation related to historical stock option grant practices; and a $1.0 million reduction to total revenue due to the purchase accounting adjustment for ChinaHR.
Monster generated revenue of $255 million and $255 million of operating expenses. In last year’s first quarter, revenue was $366 million and operating expenses were $323 million.
Iannuzzi said, “As anticipated, the challenging global economy continued to severely impact customer demand during the first quarter of 2009. We were able to leverage the power of our brand to drive awareness and higher levels of user engagement following our new product launch in early January. Our strict and disciplined approach to cost containment enabled us to preserve our liquidity position, maintain necessary investments and report a break-even quarter.”
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May 1st, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Told yah – down 31%.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Why do you think that’s such a surprise? Do you think you had some secret that an online recruiting company was down YOY in sales in the worst economic times since the great depression? They actually beat the analyst’s projections by quite a bit. The market likes it as well. Be negative all you want, but these are really tough times. The cost cutting and morale issues you are witnessing exist all over the world in many companies big and small. I think its a tribute to Monster that they remain fairly strong in such tough times, especially being really at the epicenter of the recession. If they can hold the fort through these conditions, they should be very strong when things turn around.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Hey IndustryInsider,
Please don’t give Sal another crutch, he already has the analysis in his back pocket…If the economy was growing right now, MWW would still be struggling b/c of the team Sal assembled.