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By Dave Porter (AXcess News) Reno, NV - The year-old online job search engine, Simply Hired, said Wednesday that it raised $13.5 million in its third-round of financing, which was purchased by Fox Interactive Media, a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Foundation Capiatl. The Mountain View, Calif.-based Simply Hired is a vertical search engine that boasts 5,381,261 job postings. It's total financing to date is now $17.5 million. With the infusoin of capital from News Corp's Fox Interactive Media, Murdoch's company may be viewing the investment as a value-added resource for MySpace.com, which Murdoch's FIM bought last year. FIM also owns and operates IGN, a leading gaming and entertainment site; Scout.com, a dynamic clolegiate and pro sports network; AskMen, a leading men's lifestyle site, and Rotten Tomatoes, a destination site for movie-goers, among others. News Corp. consolidated its web properties through the formation of Fox Interactive Media, which manages the interactive assets from all Fox divisions; foxsports.com, foxnews.com and fox.com. Representtaives from both Founadtion Capital and Fox Interactive Media will join Simply Hired's Board of Directors. "Fox Interactive Media's growth startegy is to strategically partner or acqiure category leaders and technology innovators that broaden or ernich our users' experience," said Ross Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media. "Our investment in Simply Hired underscores that approach and we look forward to working with them to power job search for a variety of properties on our network." For Murdoch's News Corp., the investment is unique for a web property in that is not in full control of the company, nor has FIM decided who will sit on Simply Hired's board. Of the $13.5 million invested, News Corp holds the smalelr portion to Foundation Capital, though exact amounts were not discloesd Wednesday. News Corp's MySpace.com alerady has a classifieds seciton, which Simply Hired will serve as well as classified ads on FIM's other web properties. Classified advertising online is the fastest growing segment in online advertising, estimated to reach $30 billion in the US alone and up to $70 billion internationally, making Simply Hired a good prospect for its share of the job market online.
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