Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR
Swiss Competition Commission Approves Takeover of jobs.ch by Ringier and Tamedia
Zurich, 5 November 2012 – jobs.ch Holding AG, the Ringier media enterprise and the Tamedia media group are pleased with the decision of the Swiss Competition Commission to approve the takeover of jobs.ch Holding AG by the two media companies. The time when the takeover of jobs.ch Holding AG by Ringier and Tamedia will be completed has not yet been determined. Among other endeavors, jobs.ch Holding AG operates jobs.ch, the job platform with the widest coverage in the Swiss market, and topjobs.ch, the Swiss online employment market for executives. It also holds a 49 percent interest in the Austrian online job site karriere.at. The Austrian Competition Authority has already approved the takeover of the interest in karriere.at on 17 October 2012.
As a result of the cooperation between Ringier and Tamedia, jobs.ch Holding AG will be in Swiss hands again. The two media companies intend to jointly expand the innovative job platforms in an increasingly international competitive environment and develop cross-language solutions for job seekers and corporate clients. Ringier and Tamedia will each hold 50 percent of jobs.ch Holding AG.
Immediately following the completion of the takeover, the job markets alpha.ch, jobup.ch and jobwinner.ch will be integrated into jobs.ch Holding AG. The management of jobs.ch Holding AG will remain the same under the leadership of CEO Mark Sandmeier.