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will become part of Associated New Media, the digital arm of Associated, which also owns , and and is part of the Daily Mail & General Trust.

The acquisiton comes ahead of Associated's planned launch of online versions of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday planned for later this year. The websites, dailymail.co.uk and mailonsunday.co.uk, are to offer content from the print versions combined with interactive content developed by a dedicated editorial team.

Jobsite, which was launched in 1995, will continue to operate as a standalone operation within ANM as the UK's online recruitment market continues to experience dramatic growth, with forecasts suggesting that the sector will double in size to £200m by 2008.

Associated said the acquisition was a key element of its strategy to build specialist vertical services online that complement its print and online titles.

Andrew Hart, managing director of ANM, said: "Jobsite is a rare gem, an online company that has been profitable for nine years thanks to the quality and experience of the team. Exposing the Jobsite brand to millions of our readers will advance its position as the leading online recruitment solution. This deal is a demonstration of ANM's serious intention in the online classified marketplace."

The acquisition will help fuel Jobsite's growth and take advantage of an online recruitment market that now represents 7% of overall recruitment advertising in the UK. Last year alone recruitment advertising revenues increased 43% year on year in the first three quarters of 2003.

According to Keith Potts, managing director of Jobsite: "We share a clear picture of the digital future for recruitment advertising. By joining forces with a FTSE 100 media player we will create the market-leading online recruitment company. With more and more recruiters using both print and internet to fulfil their recruitment needs, this partnership will enable us to offer a more complete solution."

Based in Havant in Sussex, Jobsite attracts more than 1.6m unique visits each month and has more than 80 employees. As well as Jobsite.co.uk, it also owns CityJobs and the recruitment software company Conkers.

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