Careers24 Pulls Out of Nigeria as Naspers Looks to Follow 2001 Playbook
One of Nigeria’s biggest online job portals is going to be shutdown. Careers24, a South African jobs portal has announced it is closing shop in Nigeria after five years in the country.
Naspers' Media24 has announced it will pull the plug on jobs site Careers24 Nigeria by March.
— Olúwatósìn Olaseinde (@tosinolaseinde) January 8, 2019
This is after they closed their OLX and Property24 offices.
Is the online market in Nigeria viable?
Or we are not ready?
However, the closure will not be immediate. The company says it will continue to offer its services to clients until full closure. According to some sources, the company will halt its Nigerian operations by 1 March 2019.
Careers24 is owned by Media24, which is in turn owned by Africa’s most valuable publicly traded company, Naspers.
BREAKING: Naspers shuts down another business in Nigeria
— soetan Yomi (@soetan46017353) January 5, 2019
Naspers, a multinational internet and media group, and top technology investor has allegedly shut down Careers24, a leading job portal in Nigeria. In 3 months, the platform ceases to exist.
The shutdown of the Nigerian division comes as a really big shock. Launched in 2014, Careers24 Nigeria is one of the biggest rivals to market leader, Jobberman.
However in an official statement, the company announced that the closure of the Nigerian division is rather unfortunate. It revealed that the platform was growing at a pace that was slower than expected.
Ishmet Davidson, CEO of Media24, emphasises that this will have no impact on Careers24’s operations in South Africa.#technology #research #innovations #nigeria #strategies https://t.co/TY8p6qFmHB
— Aderemi Ojekunle (@RemmyAlex) January 7, 2019
“Like any other business, we regularly review our portfolio of print and digital brands, products and services – some flourish, others battle,” says Ishmet Davidson, CEO of Media24. “Thus the decision to close Careers24 Nigeria, which unfortunately hasn’t managed to gain the expected traction in that market.”
Do people actually get jobs after they've apply'd using sites like careers24, indeed and the likes… ngathi ewami aphelela emoyeni nje😪 pic.twitter.com/M6ssSS6gzy
— Say Somthng (@Siya_TheSMG) January 4, 2019
The exit of Careers24 gives Jobberman, once again, a significant edge in the market. With millions of Nigerians looking for jobs, this market is an undervalued one. Then again, many Nigerian jobs are not publicly advertised, thus undercutting the value of such online jobs platforms.
Careers24 Shutdown Shows Naspers is Growing Increasingly Impatient
This is not the first time Naspers would abruptly pull a business out of the Nigerian market. This might indicate that the company is increasingly becoming impatient with underperforming business divisions.
In 2018, Naspers-owned OLX stopped physical operations in the Nigerian market. The OLX Nigeria website continues to function, but is now maintained remotely.
Likewise, Naspers dumped its holdings in Nigeria’s second most valuable ecommerce website, Konga. Konga was sold to Nigeria’s Zinox Group for an unconfirmed $10 million. Meanwhile Konga’s competitor, Jumia was already dubbed a unicorn, with a billion dollar valuation.
Naspers is also on the verge of divesting from MultiChoice, its longtime cashcow. The satellite TV provider is struggling to grow and is in danger of losing its African market to Netflix and even Econet’s Kwese.
Although Naspers is impatient with current holdings, it is not done with the African market. It recently announced a new fund aimed largely at South African startups. Apparently, it is following the same playbook that helped yank a significant stake in China’s Tencent.
It originally bought 33% stake in Tencent wayback in 2001 for just $32 million. It shaved just 2% of that stake for a whooping $10.6 billion in 2018 and now owns 31% in the Chinese behemoth.
