"CEO Douglas Feirstein, reached by phone on Thursday, said the company was in the process of being acquired but denied that it was shutting down. He said he was not at liberty to disclose the name of the buyer.<p>The San Francisco–based startup, founded in 2012 and recently valued privately at more than $500 million, came to prominence amid a tech hiring boom by helping companies such as Twitter, Airbnb and Lyft recruit workers. It raised more than $150 million from investors including Sierra Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Investment Management Corporation of Ontario and Lumia Capital.<p>Equity investors are not likely to get much, if any, of their investment back. Schaffer, the CFO, told shareholders that the board had verbally agreed to sell the company’s assets via an assignment for the benefit of creditors sale and that the special entity established for the process had already received a number of proposals for the assets. Hired does not expect to distribute any cash to shareholders after paying off creditors, he said.<p>“It is unlikely the sale will generate sufficient funds to pay all unsecured creditors in full,” the email read. “After the ABC sale transaction, Hired Inc. (which will own no assets) would be wound down and dissolved.”<p>Hired had been having trouble with its premium recruitment model even before the coronavirus pandemic roiled the job market. In 2019 it missed its revenue goals by more than 50%, according to people close to the company. Feirstein said he could not comment on its financial performance in that period. It now employs fewer than 80, down from about 250 at its peak, according to people familiar with the company."