Fourth-quarter revenue at jobs website ZipRecruiter Inc. (NYSE: ZIP) fell 4.4% to $210.5 million. The Santa Monica, California-based company cited a softening hiring environment in the fourth quarter combined with a seasonal decline. The company also cautioned that employers’ hiring plans slowed in this quarter, the first quarter.
Still, fourth-quarter revenue was above analysts’ estimate, and ZipRecruiter reported revenue per paid employer rose 30% year over year in the fourth quarter to $1,944. Paid employers are any employers on a paying subscription plan or performance marketing campaign for at least one day.
In addition, the number of active job seekers on ZipRecruiter — when looking at full-year 2022 — rose by 20% to 42 million.
ZipRecruiter CEO Ian Siegel said 2022 was a strong year for the company overall despite the volatile jobs environment, with full-year revenue up 22%.
“We believe that the strength of our brand, nimble business model and robust balance sheet not only position us well to navigate the current macroenvironment, but also allow ZipRecruiter to emerge as an even stronger company on the other side,” Siegel said.
Guidance
ZipRecruiter noted employers moderated their hiring plans and reduced their recruitment budgets in the first weeks of this year.
“Online job postings in our marketplace remained in line with the low point of the 2022 holiday season, rather than following the longstanding seasonal pattern of beginning a run-up in January,” according to the company. “The weakness in 2023 is more pronounced among [small and midsize businesses] than among larger enterprises. As a result, January’s revenue was down 15% year over year.”
First-quarter 2023 revenue guidance represents, at the midpoint, a 21% decline year over year.
Share price and market cap
Shares in ZipRecruiter were down 26.09% to $17.19 as of 12:12 p.m. Eastern time today; they were still 24.71% above their 52-week low, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of $2.56 billion.