Former HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos joins JobStreet's parent firm SEEK Asia

Former CEO of HOOQ, Peter Bithos, has joined SEEK Asia as CEO. SEEK Asia combines JobStreet and jobsDB under one roof, and in his new role, Bithos (pictured) will be responsible for leading and driving business growth and operations of SEEK Asia, while building on the company’s success and presence over the past 23 years throughout Southeast Asia.

Bithos takes over from Suresh Thiru, who has been with SEEK Asia (JobStreet) since 2000 and served as CEO since 2016. His 25-year career has included various CEO and senior management positions throughout the region, encompassing both developed and developing markets and covering a spectrum of companies from start-ups to large enterprises.

According to his LinkedIn, Bithos was the CEO of HOOQ since its founding in 2015. The company filed for liquidation in March this year due to structural changes in the OTT video market and its competitive landscape. The spokesperson previously said that global and local content providers are increasingly going direct, the cost of content remains high, and emerging market consumers’ willingness to pay has increased only gradually amidst an increasing array of choices.

Meanwhile, Bithos was also chief operating officer of Globe Telecom in the Philippines. Prior to this, he was CEO of Virgin Mobile Australia and director of strategy and corporate development of Optus in Australia. Bithos also has nearly a decade of strategy consulting experience, having served in a management capacity with Bain & Company.

"I am deeply privileged to join one of the largest and best tech companies in the region," Bithos said. He added that it is truly exciting to be part of fulfilling SEEK's purpose in these times and he feels fortunate to be joining SEEK at this very moment as the company's purpose to improve lives through better careers has never been more urgent amidst the pandemic.

Bithos also said that the opportunity to work with SEEK's teams and people across Asia to create step-change growth and an even better experience for its customers is unique and special.

SEEK's group chief operating officer and Asia and Americas CEO, Ian Narev, said Bithos has a proven track record growing tech, media and telco businesses, leading digital transformation programmes and building strong company cultures in diverse markets across Asia Pacific and the US.

"I am very excited about what he will bring to our business while taking SEEK Asia to the next level of growth. All of us at SEEK, JobStreet and jobsDB thank Thiru for his leadership over two decades. He was a real pioneer of our business and was instrumental in establishing it as a market leader in this region and a trusted brand for millions of job seekers and organisations," Narev added.