BDO has advised XING, the leading online business network in German-speaking countries, on the acquisition of Honeypot. It is XING’s largest acquisition so far and part of the Tech-Dax listed company’s mission to accompany its members on the process of change the work environment is currently undergoing.
Led by Martin Studier and Frank Scholl, the interdisciplinary team from BDO AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft provided comprehensive financial and tax related advice on this transaction.
Honeypot is an innovative job platform which responds to the continuing trend of excess demand for tech-experts by reversing the traditional way job platforms work. Founded by Emma Tracey and Kaya Taner in 2015, the Berlin-based start-up offers around 1,500 corporate customers access to more than 100,000 ‘techies’ - such as developers, data scientists and QA testers - from around the globe. Different from traditional job platforms Honeypot has a candidate-driven ethos, where employers apply for job interviews with potential talents instead of the other way around. Honeypot currently employs around 50 staff in its offices in Berlin and Amsterdam.
XING, founded in Hamburg in 2003, has currently more than 15 million members. Following recent acquisitions such as Honeypot, InterNations and Prescreen, XING strives to strengthen its E-recruiting segment as well as its New Work-product offerings. New Work is supposed to embrace all its business activities; also expressed by the envisaged rebranding of XING SE into New Work SE.
Imke Schultjan (XING SE):
“The BDO team led by Martin and Frank has understood our needs perfectly and kept in mind at any time the specific requirements which transactions in the start-up environment entail. Thus the BDO Corporate Finance and tax teams ultimately made a strong contribution in completing our so far largest acquisition successfully.”