Recruit Holdings, a Japan-based HR services provider announced on Wednesday that it reach an agreement with California-based job site operator Glassdoor to acquire the company for $1.2 billion to get access to the database of company reviews and salary data.
Glassdoor is a private company founded in 2007 that allows its employees and former employees to anonymously review companies for which they work or previously worked for and their management as well. TechCrunch defines the company as a site that “collects company reviews and real salaries from employees of large companies and displays them anonymously for all members to see.”
The company last received decent funding throughout its years of activity. The company raised a Series B funding round of $3 million in 2008 from Benchmark and in total raised 9 funding rounds amounting to $204.5 Mn. The last funding round was a Series H funding in June 2016 led by T.Rowe Price and including 4 additional investors for $40 Mn that drove the company’s valuating to $1 billion. Several reputable investors such as billionaire Chase Coleman’s hedge fund Tiger Global Management and Google Capital, among others, backed the company.
The acquisition of Glassdoor has some strategic significance for Recruit, as it will enable the Japanese company to expand its operations and reach in the US especially since it already invested in the American market after acquiring Connecticut-based job search platform Indeed in 2012.
“Glassdoor’s database of employer information and the job search capabilities of Indeed complement each other well,” Recruit’s chief operating officer, Hisayuki Idekoba, said in a statement.
Glassdoor co-founder and Chief Executive, Rober Hohman will keep his post at the head of the company post-acquisition, according to Recruit’s statement.
A Bloomberg report released earlier this year stated that the company was ready to step into the stock market and was taking advise from several banks.