Microsoft buys stake in CareerBuilder

Microsoft has bought a minority equity stake in job search site CareerBuilder.com, the companies announced Wednesday. Microsoft also extended its agreement to have CareerBuilder as the exclusive job search engine for its MSN Careers channel until 2013. The deal requires CareerBuilder to pay MSN up to $443 million over seven years.

CareerBuilder.com, which claims an average of 21 million unique users per month, said that its usage increased by about 10 million between 2003 and 2004, in part due to its relationship with MSN. The updated partnership also includes international MSN sites. Most MSN Europe sites will have CareerBuilder as its exclusive engine by the middle of 2008, according to the companies' statement.