History
Indeed was cofounded by Paul Forster and Rony Kahan in 2004 in both Austin, Texas, and Stamford, Connecticut.[8] The Stamford offices house the company's sales, client services, finance, and human resources teams, while the product development staff is based in Austin.[3]
In 2005, Indeed launched the beta version of their "pay-per-click job advertising network".[9] In addition to searching job postings, it allows the frequency of specific words within these postings to be tracked over time, serving as a potential indicator of trends in the job markets. The company took an investment round of $5 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, The New York Times and Allen & Company.[10]
Indeed operates in the UK via Indeed UK Operations Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Indeed Operations Ireland Ltd, whose ultimate holding company is Recruit Holding Co Ltd. Turnover in the UK for the year to 31 December 2019 was £41.2m.
On October 1, 2012, Indeed was acquired by Japan-based Recruit Co. Ltd., becoming an independent operating unit.[11]
On July 1, 2016, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. announced that it had acquired the assets of Indeed's competitor Simply Hired, which would become a publishing partner of Indeed.[12]
On June 21, 2018, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. announced that it had acquired the assets of Glassdoor, which will operate as a distinct and separate part of its growing HR Technology business segment, aligning Glassdoor and Indeed as sister companies.[13]
On May 30, 2019, Indeed announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Syft, a leading recruiting platform for the hospitality, event, and light industrial sectors in the UK.[14]
On July 12, 2019, Indeed announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire ClickIQ, an automated job advertising technology platform based in the UK.[15]
On March 22, 2023, Indeed announced that they would be laying off 2,200 employees, stated to be 15% of their workforce.[16]
On May 13, 2024, Indeed laid off approximately 1,000 employees, or about 8% of the company. Indeed CEO Chris Hyams announced on May 13 in a letter to employees, a move driven in part by "a global slow-down in hiring," the message said. The vast majority of the layoffs were in the U.S., Hyams said, largely within R&D and the go-to-market teams. "While the global economy has improved in several areas over the past year, we are not yet set up for sustainable growth," Hyams said. “Despite our efforts so far, our organization is still too complex,” he continued, indicating that the company is aiming to "simplify" areas of the business to make decision-making faster.[17]
On July 10, 2025, the HR Technology segment of Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., which operates Indeed and Glassdoor, announced a reduction of approximately 1,300 employees, representing about 6% of the segment's total workforce as of April 1, 2025.[18] Four months following these layoffs, Indeed conducted another round of comparatively minor reductions in headcount, citing the role of AI on employment in the technology industry.[19]
