First Time Super Bowl Advertiser CareerBuilder.com Reveals How it Plans to Outsource the Competition in 2005

CHICAGO, January 24, 2005 – In two weeks, CareerBuilder.com will enter the households of millions of TV viewers as a first-time advertiser at the mostly widely watched event of the year: the Super Bowl. Marking a major milestone in brand promotion, CareerBuilder.com is suiting up for what the company calls the biggest competition in corporate history. Spending in excess of $200 million* on marketing in 2005, CareerBuilder.com announced it is executing on a plan that will further strengthen the sought after industry leader position it took over in 2004.

CareerBuilder.com moved into the number one spot in online recruitment in 2004, bypassing its largest competitors in both job seeker traffic and job postings. It doubled its traffic year over year to more than 15 million** unique visitors per month with the addition of MSN and America Online to its distribution network and grew its Web site listings by more than 60 percent to over 600,000. The company now commands the highest market share in job listings at 45 percent and has consistently outpaced competitors in revenue growth with an 80 percent increase over prior year in the third quarter alone.

“2004 was an exceptional year for CareerBuilder.com and the competition will see we’re just getting warmed up,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com. “We are pushing our leadership status to the next level by significantly increasing our marketing spend and driving greater brand awareness with appearances at high profile events such as the Super Bowl, Academy Awards, the Grammy’s and the NCAA Final Four. In addition, we are expanding operations, signing a diverse mix of partners and driving new job matching technology advancements.”

Ferguson attributes the company’s continued success to its unique business model that effectively rivals traditional job boards. Instead of focusing on one centralized site, its marketing spend includes investments in co-brand partnerships with leading sites reaching national, local, industry, diversity and niche audiences. Starting off with 16 partners in 1995, CareerBuilder.com now powers the online career sites for more than 450 partners today and plans to add 100 more in 2005.

In addition to expanding its distribution network, CareerBuilder.com doubled its internal workforce to nearly 1,000 in 2004. Combining the sales support of the 130 newspapers of its owners Tribune Company, Gannett and Knight Ridder, more than 1,600 individuals are now selling CareerBuilder.com listings nationwide. The company stands as the only online job board that offers the combination of print and online exposure on a national and local basis.

CareerBuilder.com also emphasizes the importance of technology advancements in growing its business and the online recruitment industry overall. The company signed a three-year exclusive deal with enterprise search company Fast Search & Transfer and is serving on their technology advisory board to drive development in job search and matching. “Economists are projecting the U.S. will add more than 4 million jobs in the next two years and CareerBuilder.com is ready to take the lion’s share. Our appearance at the Super Bowl is just the beginning,” said Ferguson.

CareerBuilder.com publicly released the first in a series of new TV ads this morning at www.careerbuilder.com/TV as part of a major online marketing blitz. CareerBuilder.com purchased two 30-second spots that will air during the Super Bowl. This will kick off a year-long, national marketing program featuring primetime national network and cable television, local radio, print, outdoor ads and mobile marketing. It will be supplemented with in-kind advertising support from the 48 television stations, newspapers and Web sites of Tribune Company, Gannett and Knight Ridder.

*SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, December 2004 – includes in-kind promotions from Tribune Company, Gannett and Knight Ridder.

**comScore Media Metrix, November 2004. The CareerBuilder Network is a custom aggregation of CareerBuilder.com traffic as well as job search traffic to career centers CareerBuilder powers for partner sites such as Tribune Company, Gannett, Knight Ridder and others.

About CareerBuilder.com
CareerBuilder.com is the nation’s leading online job network with more than 15 million unique visitors and over 600,000 jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB), and Knight Ridder, Inc. (NYSE: KRI), the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the online career centers for more than 450 partners that reach national, local, industry, diversity and niche audiences. These include more than 130 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 30,000 of the nation’s top employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com’s easy job postings, 10 million-plus resumes, comprehensive screening tools and more. Millions of job seekers visit the site every month to search for opportunities, sign up for automatic email job alerts, and get advice on job hunting and career management. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

CareerBuilder Media Contact
For all media inquiries and interview requests, contact:

Jennifer Grasz
(P) 773-527-1164
(E) jennifer.grasz@careerbuilder.com