LinkedIn Is NOT Buying Monster: Here's The Real Story
Just got off the phone with a source close to LinkedIn. — LinkedIn is not going to buy Monster, and it was never particularly interested in doing so. — Basically, a little while back, Monster's Bank of America bankers called LinkedIn …
Context & Ripple Effects
The story broke when Reuters reported that LinkedIn was among parties weighing a deal for Monster Worldwide; within hours, Business Insider went the other way, citing a source close to LinkedIn who says Monster's Bank of America bankers called to gauge interest and got a lukewarm reception. The denial is the news here — the sale process itself is real, and Monster's advisers are the ones soliciting buyers.
It also fits a familiar LinkedIn pattern: back in 2007 the company was reportedly working on a deal with News Corp, and just last week it closed its largest acquisition yet, the $119 million SlideShare purchase split 45% cash and 55% stock. That record points toward product tuck-ins that feed the network, not a legacy job board with a declining classifieds business.
First-order effects
- LinkedIn's public denial caps speculation set off by the Reuters report, leaving Monster's Bank of America bankers still hunting for a buyer for a process their own outreach exposed.
- Monster's board now faces the awkward optics of a solicited suitor publicly saying it was never particularly interested — a signal to other bidders about how motivated the seller is.
Second-order effects
- Other parties Reuters said were weighing a Monster deal must recalibrate: with the highest-profile strategic name publicly stepping back, remaining bidders gain negotiating leverage on price.
- Rivals in professional networking and recruiting read the denial as confirmation that LinkedIn grows through content- and tool-focused acquisitions like SlideShare rather than consolidating old-guard job boards.
Third-order effects
- If banker-driven processes for legacy job boards keep surfacing this way, the structural question becomes whether those assets find strategic buyers at all or settle for financial buyers at lower valuations.
- A pattern where outreach leaks and targets deny interest raises the cost of running quiet auctions — expect sellers' advisers to demand tighter NDAs and buyers' communications to get more scripted.
The trend: Professional networks like LinkedIn are compounding through small product acquisitions while legacy job boards shop themselves through bankers to an increasingly indifferent strategic field.