KUALA LUMPUR: SEEK Ltd (SEEK), an Australian-listed technology company that owns two of Southeast Asia's largest online job marketplaces - JobStreet and JobsDB - announced today a US$48 million (approximately RM203 million) investment in JobKorea, Korea's largest online employment platform.
As a result, SEEK will own a ten per cent stake in JobKorea, with SEEK Asia chief executive officer Peter Bithos joining JobKorea's board, the company said.
"This partnership is a big win not only for SEEK and JobKorea but more importantly for all job seekers and employers in Asia.
"With JobKorea, the leading job marketplace in Korea, we can now touch the lives of an additional 25 million jobseekers and five million employers in one of the largest economies in the world," Peter said.
"Through this investment, we look forward to helping JobKorea with our market-leading insights into big data, how to leverage artificial intelligence (AI), and our commercial and technical experience building the leading jobs and career marketplaces across the Asia-Pacific region," he added.
"We also look forward to learning from JobKorea as it continues to build on its leadership in one of Asia's most dynamic, sophisticated markets."
This investment will provide an opportunity for SEEK to add value to JobKorea's market-leading position.
At the same time, SEEK focuses on its operations, fast-tracking its ongoing transformation and growth of its existing Asia businesses.
SEEK's digital teams continue to make major inroads in building products and solutions driven by AI and market data, which, combined with SEEK's deep local insights and resources in each location, differentiate it from other international players.
For JobKorea, this partnership will provide an opportunity to leverage SEEK's experienced management team and their significant expertise in operating global online employment and human capital management platforms.
"We are delighted to have a partnership with SEEK, a company with a wealth of experience in the global online employment market," JobKorea chief executive officer Yoon Byung-joon said.
"We believe that this relationship will be an opportunity for JobKorea to make a quantum leap to the next level. With competition becoming ever fiercer to hire talented people such as good managers, developers or tech specialists, JobKorea will move toward a global HR platform that connects the Korean employment marketplace internationally," he said.
The remaining 90 per cent of JobKorea is owned by Affinity Equity Partners (AEP), a leading global private equity player and the largest in Korea.
AEP acquired 100 per cent of JobKorea in May 2021.