In 1999, Monster was born and quickly became the largest and one of the most respected job boards in the industry.  Over the past few years (like most job sites), Monster.com has tried to rebrand itself as much more than a job board, with little success.

The site has made a lot of headlines recently, many of which highlight a gloomy future. Is Monster becoming a Mini-ster?

Here are 7 recent warning signs:

1. Last week, UBS downgraded Monster Worldwide Inc (MWW), citing market share losses in North America. The news cited Monster losing market share to competitors in 2011, and Analyst John Janedis references limited chances of a reversal in this trend in 2012.
2. 6 weeks ago, Monster.com announced it would be laying off 7% of its’ workforce (400 people), as continuing global economic uncertainties persist.
3. At Baird’s 2012 Business Solutions Conference last week, Monster.com’s CEO Sal Iannuzzi shared they find themselves in an ironic position considering the company is in a stronger position that it has been – in years – with a stock price that is totally in-adequate. During the session Iannuzzi shared Monster is exploring strategic alternatives. Here is an audio replay of that presentation.
4. At the Baird event, Iannuzi also shared Monter has well over 300,000 clients compared to LinkedIn’s 9,200 clients. He added Monster focuses on postings and search primarily for jobs between $50,000-$100,000 and in comparison LinkedIn is mostly search – for jobs paying more than $150,000. He added Monster and LinkedIn are in 2 different sectors of the market, and that even if you do use LinkedIn to search profiles you should use Monster’s search technology to do so. Seriously?
5. Monster has evolved its’ products, and launched new ones too. BeKnown, as an example, made the Top 5 Recruiting Fails for 2011. Another example, nearly 80% of the Monster iPad app users rate it 1, out of 5.  This, from a technology leader.
6. Comscore shows Indeed.com leading the job search pack, with over 50% of the traffic in the US. CareerBuilder is #2, and Monster is #3.
7. MSNBC posted an article yesterday – Is LinkedIn Ready for a Monster Acquisition? The article states that Analysts see Monster.com’s revenue and earnings falling by 6% and 30%, respectively, compared to other competitors facing growth. As a comparison, Analysts are banking on revenue and profitability soaring 67% and 74% for LinkedIn. The financial difference between these 2:  Monster’s enterprise value is less than $1 billion, while LinkedIn’s value is more than $8 billion.

While many say job boards are not dead (and they’re not), it will be interesting to see how the strategic alternatives the company is considering play out in the job board space. Until then, we’ll see if the company will transform itself, or go from a Monster to a Mini-ster.