Zen JV, LLC operated leading online job boards Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, along with Military.com and Fastweb.com, with approximately 1,058 employees across 22+ countries. The company was formed in September 2024 through a merger of CareerBuilder (51% owned by Apollo Global Management) and Monster (49% owned by Randstad), both of which had struggled financially for years. The Chicago-based company filed for Chapter 11 protection on June 24, 2025 in Delaware (Case No. 25-11195) facing approximately $361 million in funded debt, including $226.1 million in Monster Notes held by Randstad and $135.2 million in CareerBuilder Term Loans. Filing was precipitated by macroeconomic headwinds reducing corporate hiring, competition from job aggregators and AI-driven hiring tools, and an urgent capital need in early 2025. The Debtors obtained $20 million in DIP financing from JMB Capital Partners Lending, LLC at 12% PIK interest. A 363 sale process yielded approximately $68.7 million in total auction proceeds from the sale of assets to Valnet/Iron Corp (Media Business, $27.3M), BOLD Holdings (Job Board Business, $28.4M), and Sherrill-Lubinski/PartnerOne Capital (Government Business, $13.1M), closing July 31, 2025. The Plan of Liquidation was confirmed on October 7, 2025, with an effective date of October 14, 2025. A liquidating trust was established, with secured creditors projected to receive 8.9-9.5% recovery and general unsecured creditors 0-9.7%.
