The former Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) CEO, Ian Narev, has been appointed the chief operating officer and CEO of the Asia Pacific business at online jobs board SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK).
After the shock allegations at the Royal Commission into Financial Services Mr Narev is probably not the only former banker trawling the jobs boards at SEEK and given his experience the news is likely to be well received by the market.
As a business SEEK continues to divide the bulls and bears as its heavy reinvestments into what it calls 'early stage ventures' and other growth opportunities means it's delivered a couple of years of flat profit growth as cost growth offsets revenue growth.
The question for investors is whether SEEK will eventually deliver on its reinvestments with some profit growth, or if it's attempting to cover up the reality that its core ANZ jobs advertising business is facing such strong competition from the likes of LinkedIn that it has no choice but to heavily reinvest in defending its market position.
Elsewhere the top line at SEEK's Chinese doppelgänger Zhaopin.com is growing at a rapid pace, but EBITDA growth has been flat due to the heavy investment in gaining market share.
I'm not surprised to see the market sell off SEEK shares recently and I admitted to selling down some of my position in November 2018 on valuation grounds among other factors touched on above.
In the online classifieds space I still think property business REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) is the best bet for investors due to a stronger competitive position and pricing power than SEEK. This allows REA Group to deliver consistent profit growth for investors.
I don't see that changing in the medium term, although both these businesses probably still have relatively good outlooks.
