 |
15 May 2000
|
| Hong Kong - iBusiness Corporation
(iBusiness) and HKET (Holding) Ltd (HKET) jointly announced
today that they have formed an exclusive partnership in Hong
Kong to develop and operate the job search portal, careertimes.com.hk. |
|
| careertimes.com.hk was initially
set up in April 1999 by HKET as an extension of the Career Times
classified job posting section of the newspaper. As one of the
established leaders in the classified job market, the offline
Career Times job posting section in HKET's newspaper, Hong Kong
Economic Times, has served almost all corporations in the territory
ranging from large multinationals to SMEs (small to medium enterprises)
throughout its three years of operations. Recently, Hong Kong
Economic Times and Career Times won the tender again for the
exclusive posting of Hong Kong SAR Government's Chinese recruitment
advertisements. |
|
| With the formation of the HKET/iBusiness
partnership, careertimes.com.hk will be operated as a separate,
independent company. The shareholding ratio of iBusiness and
HKET will be 40% and 60% respectively. iBusiness's four shareholders,
namely Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, The Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, and Hang Seng Bank
and their associated companies will place their on-line recruitment
advertisements in Hong Kong exclusively on careertimes.com.hk. |
|
| "We are very excited about our
partnership with iBusiness. The resources, network and management
professionalism of iBusiness and its four reputable shareholders
will contribute greatly to careertimes.com.hk. I am confident
that the alliance between iBusiness and HKET will propel careertimes.com.hk
to new heights both in terms of market share and expansion plans,"
said Mr Perry Mak, Director of careertimes.com.hk and Group
Managing Director of HKET. |
|
| "iBusiness was in the midst
of planning the launch of a recruitment portal when our discussions
with HKET began. Considering the compatibility of resources,
as well as technological, management and marketing capabilities
of the two operations, we soon came to the conclusion that merging
our operations would be the ideal arrangement. In the spirit
of cooperation and as a vote of confidence towards careertimes.com.hk,
the four shareholders of iBusiness will place their on-line
recruitment advertisements in Hong Kong exclusively on careertimes.com.hk,"
said Mr Edmond Ip, Director of careertimes.com.hk and Executive
Director & CEO of iBusiness. |
|
| careertimes.com.hk is the most
comprehensive recruitment web site in Hong Kong. The portal's
user-friendly and powerful search engine enable job seekers
to easily locate suitable jobs in its over 3,500 job database.
With an all-in-one gateway to major professions in Hong Kong,
careertimes.com.hk provides update salary indices for both job
seekers and human resources professionals by matrix of grade
and professions regularly. After only one year of operation,
careertimes.com.hk already has over 100,000 registered members
and 180,000 daily page views. It is intended that Hutchison
Telecom's WAP mobile phone features will be used as one of the
communication platforms between careertimes.com.hk and its job
candidates. An application for a listing in the not too distant
future is being considered by the shareholders. |
|
| HKET (Holding) Ltd
(HKET), publishes the number one business daily, Hong Kong Economic
Times, in Hong Kong. The Group has also developed businesses
in the provision of total brokerage solutions (via ET Net Ltd),
and electronic information in finance (also via ET Net Ltd.)
and property (via EPRC Ltd). HKET is also involved in executive
training (via Professional Development Centre) as well as publishing
of professional books (via ET Press). With respect to its Internet-related
development, subsequent to the launch of careertimes.com.hk
in 1999, a number of web sites of different nature have also
been run. Recently the Group has set up ETVision with the aim
of developing broadband financial programs in the near future.
The Group has also launched "Internet Magazine", the first magazine
of its kind in Hong Kong, in March 2000. |
|
| Formed in January
2000, iBusiness Corporation (iBusiness) is the Internet joint
venture of four leading Hong Kong-based multinational corporations,
namely Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., The Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation Ltd., Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Hang Seng
Bank. Capitalizing on the resources, network and customer base
of the shareholders, iBusiness is committed to become a major
player in the Internet arena and a leading facilitator of e-commerce
businesses by offering B2B and B2C on-line solutions for different
market segments. In addition, iBusiness will explore and develop
new business ventures with strategic partners to provide a wider
and fuller range of Internet service offerings to Hong Kong
and Asia. (For more information on iBusiness, please refer to
www.ibusiness-hk.com.) |
- End -
|
