Expansion, eCommerce, Consumer Advertising
While we are a global company, in 2005 we began shifting our marketing priorities in North America toward more localized and targeted media, as we recognize that all hiring is ultimately local, involving one-to-one contact. 

Among our tactics is to balance seeker and employer activity levels on Monster on a market by market basis. We continue to put more sales people in key local markets in the United States and abroad, and in 2005 we opened a telesales center in Tempe, Arizona, that will enable us to better serve smaller cities and the Western portion of the United States. 

We are also pursuing localized pricing initiatives and innovative distribution relationships as well—all of which are designed to introduce Monster to the large number of potential customers who still employ traditional alternatives.

In 2005, we enjoyed strong growth from businesses with over 2,000 employees, and at the same time, we made major gains with the more than 2 million small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States, a sector that has typically used the print media for recruitment. Yet the SMB sector was still Monster’s single-best source of new customer growth in 2005. To enlist participation among these customers new to online methods, our localized strategy combines telesales, targeted marketing and eCommerce.

Our self-serve eCommerce distribution channel provides customers who have less frequent recruitment needs with an integrated offering that lets them post jobs and access Monster’s robust database with greater flexibility and control. In 2005, eCommerce was responsible for generating a large part of Monster’s new customer growth and is now approaching one-fifth of Monster’s revenue in North America.

To complement its core business, Monster Worldwide has assembled other online properties to take advantage of the rapid growth of Internet advertising beyond the careers category. Community sites such as FastWeb, Military.com, and Tickle.com focus on individuals who are at significant personal transitional points in life—such as when they’re graduating from school, joining the military, pursuing advanced educational opportunities or networking online.

For example, FastWeb is a leading site for students beginning their college search to seek scholarship and related information on the Web. Our campus products serve students at every stage of the post-secondary educational process through entry level positions in the workforce.

Our consumer strategy aims to capture users at these pivotal moments in their lives, and to monetize our sites and services through Internet advertising sales and direct consumer fees. The Monster network of websites regularly attracts one of the largest audiences on the Internet, and its users come to us with serious and important personal priorities to fulfill; therefore, we believe Monster has a compelling opportunity to grow its revenue and profit well beyond the careers core of its service.

The public sector represents another significant growth opportunity. Monster Government Solutions (MGS) operates USAJOBS, the official employment site of the U.S. federal government, and also serves more than 100 government agencies with hiring management solutions. MGS is now gearing this one-stop career website approach to state and local governments and, in March 2006, named a distinguished Advisory Board to guide the company in public policy issues concerning human capital.

A steadfast ally of online recruitment, our TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications business significantly improved its financial performance in 2005, as margins expanded and the operating income contribution increased more than five fold on a modest revenue gain. The AdComms business is strategically aligned with the Monster division in serving the human resources community, as more and more media ad placement flows to the online market from traditional print.

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Another New Beginning
All across the world, organizations are realizing the power of the Monster “match“—the timely, cost-effective and efficient way to place the right person in the right job. 

In the past year, more than 70 million global unique users visited Monster each month, and to date, over 65 million of Monster’s visitors have established personalized accounts that take advantage of services such as our resume database or our job search agent technology to help them better manage their careers. Collectively, our users conduct 160 million job searches, and more than 1 million new jobs are posted each month, putting Monster in a valuable central position within the global hiring process.

Our Monster Employment Index, a measure of online job posting activity across a variety of online recruitment websites, further demonstrates the momentum behind the migration of help-wanted advertising toward the Internet. In 2005, the Index rose 28% year over year within the United States, while comparable measures of print-based help-wanted activity remained relatively flat. We rolled out the Index across Europe in 2005, in addition to launching localized Index statistics for the leading domestic markets in the United States.

We intend to keep the Monster experience fresh and new for every community we serve, and our Monster Labs initiative seeks to develop breakthrough advances in technology and products that can be integrated into our services. 

We firmly believe that Monster is at the inflection point of its growth potential, a time that feels very much like our founding. Just as few people 10 years ago could have predicted the success Monster has enjoyed thus far, it is equally difficult to anticipate the exact contours of the years ahead. But, we know that ours is an exciting place to be, and we are enthusiastic about what lies ahead.

For Monster, 2005 was indeed a very good year: Good for customers, job seekers, employees and shareholders alike. We expanded our business and invested in important long-term growth opportunities. We grew our workforce, attracted talented new business leaders and created exciting career development opportunities for many of our employees. We invested in our brand, our products and our services. At the same time, we delivered outstanding financial results that showcase both the powerful secular momentum of our industry and Monster’s commitment to market share growth and increasing operating efficiency.

We head into 2006 with much optimism and steadfast commitment to execute on our strategic priorities: focus on the Monster; expand in international markets; be local; leverage multiple sales channels; and drive efficiency while investing for growth.

Thank you for your support as we move towards new opportunities—within an industry that we pioneered. And thanks to our over 4,500 employees worldwide who make this all possible.

Andrew J. McKelvey
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Monster Worldwide

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