Seven years after making a name for itself by hosting a "pink-slip party" for finance professionals left jobless during the global financial crisis, Japanese online recruiter BizReach Inc. is about to start putting some bankers to work.
In August the career consultant will start looking for an investment bank to help it prepare for an initial public offering in about five years, founder and Chief Executive Officer Soichiro "Swimmy" Minami said in an interview. The former Morgan Stanley banker aims to list the company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and achieve more than ¥100 billion in market value.
Tokyo-based BizReach operates a paid-membership website that started in 2009 to connect job seekers with recruiters and companies. It raised about ¥4 billion this year selling shares to investment arms of Yahoo Japan Corp., Salesforce.com Inc., Dentsu Inc. and seven other companies to expand its business.