August 2010 Vol. 237 No. 8

Business Meetings & Events

Dice Holdings Acquires Rigzone for $39M

Dice Holdings, Inc., a provider of field-specific career websites, announced August 12 that it has acquired Rigzone, a content, data, advertising and career services provider in the oil and gas market.

“The acquisition of Rigzone extends our capabilities and strengthens our position in the highly attractive energy vertical,” said Scot Melland, chairman, president and CEO of Dice Holdings, Inc. “The Rigzone and WorldwideWorker services complement each other with Rigzone’s traditional strength in North America and WorldwideWorker’s focus on the Middle East and emerging markets. And both teams share a commitment to quality and a desire to serve the energy industry on a global basis.”

The company says Rigzone is the world’s most-used online source for upstream oil and gas news and data, including in-depth information on the exploration, drilling and production markets. Rigzone claims more than 500,000 unique visitors each month and more than 270,000 resumes in its database, covering skills ranging from production operators to petroleum engineers.

“The Dice team has the strongest vision for the future direction of online recruiting, while recognizing the value of our unique and valuable content,” said David Kent, president of Rigzone. “We are truly excited about working with our colleagues from Des Moines to Dubai connecting top talent with organizations that are tackling the energy challenge.”

The purchase price consists of initial consideration of $39 million in cash. Additional consideration to a maximum of $16 million in cash is payable upon the achievement of certain operating and financial goals through June 30, 2011.