CareerBuilder, job website toppled by AI, wraps liquidation

(Bloomberg/Steven Church) — The owner of former job recruitment sites CareerBuilder and Monster, which blamed artificial intelligence for their demise, won court approval to end a liquidation case by paying lenders and other creditors less than 10% of what they are owed.

Under the bankruptcy payout plan, noteholders and lenders owed nearly $363 million will divide up about $33.6 million that was raised from the sale of businesses affiliated with the websites. As much as $3 million will go to other unsecured creditors, according to court documents.

The job-hunting sites failed less than a year after they were combined, brought down by a slowdown in corporate hiring and competition from hiring tools driven by AI. The two had been struggling with declining revenue amid a growing number of job recruitment sites, including Indeed and ZipRecruiter, the company said in court papers.

After filing bankruptcy in June, the parent company, Zen JV, LLC, held an auction for its assets. The sale brought in $67 million to pay creditors and for the cost of the bankruptcy case.

“It was a very challenging case,” company bankruptcy Zachary I. Shapiro said in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday.

CareerBuilder and Monster were two of the earliest job-recruitment websites, helping to connect workers and employers. They spent decades as competitors, before being united as part of a joint venture backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. in September 2024.

Both brands will live on under the ownership of Bold, a technology company that bought the job board businesses, the joint venture said in a statement.

The case is Zen JV LLC, number 25-11195, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

(Adds comment from bankruptcy lawyer and details of the company’s sale starting in the fifth paragraph.)

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