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Monster released its financials for 2008 this afternoon and the numbers give mute testimony to the impact of the worldwide recession on the recruitment market.

For the last quarter of 2008 Monster reported revenues of $290.7 million and earnings per share of 24 cents. This is off from last year and below analysts’ expectations, falling at the lower end of Wall Street’s estimates.

The biggest hit came in the company’s North American sales which were off 22.1 percent in the 4th quarter from the same quarter in 2007. For the year, North American sales were off 9.8 percent.

The silver lining, thin as it may be, is that the company managed to eke out a 1.5 percent increase in revenue for the full year, due mostly to a 17.9 percent growth for the year in international sales. However, the recession’s global impact began to be felt in the 4th quarter. International sales were off 14.3 percent, coming in at $122.8 million, just $12.3 million less than the  $135.1  million Monster generated in North America.

However the company’s operating expenses were almost $70 million more in 2008, which made a big dent in the earnings per share for the year. More than of half that – $40 million – is attributed for legal expenses in connection with the lawsuits arising out of the stock options backdating of several years ago.

Monster reported diluted earnings of $1.03 per share in 2008 vs. $1.12 in 2007.

Last year, Monster had $347.8 million in revenue for the 4th quarter and $1.324 billion for all of 2007.

Analysts had been expecting 4th quarter revenue in the range of $279.1 to $331.4 million with the average being $311.6 million. Earnings had been expected in the range of 21 to 33 cents per share with the average being 27 cents.

Monster, like most publicly held companies, reports numbers in a variety of different ways to make it easier for analysts to make comparisons. Numbers used here are from the company’s operations statements.

The new Monster (profile; site) launches today.

Depending when you read this, the redesigned site that company officials promise puts the focus on the jobseeker may already be up and running. If not, give it time, a company spokesman said Friday afternoon. Launching a new site, especially one that is global, is not just a matter of flipping switches, he said.

Today’s launch has been in the works for much of 2008. The date was picked at least as far back as October when Monster gave sneak previews at ERE Expo in Ft. Lauderdale. The company’s presence at the show was unavoidable. Buttons touting 1.10.09 where everywhere. Showgoers lined up at the booth to see what was coming and, of course, to pick up one of the purple Monster beach towels or win a stuffed trumpasaurus.

What we saw of the new Monster showed a site that seemed as useful to passive jobseekers on their way up the career ladder as the current one is to active job-seekers. It has career planning tools that let a user compare their progress to others in their field, even in the same job at other companies. And like a good talent management system, the new Monster will show a user where the gaps are in their experience and background.

We certainly didn’t get to see everything Monster had in the bag, but our tour guide, Eric Winegardner, VP of Client Adoption, promised that something like 90 percent of the user experience — recruiter, as well as seeker — was reworked, redesigned, or improved.

After you’ve walked through the new site, tell us what you think.

Andrew J. McKelvey, the man who built Monster.com into a worldwide job search brand, died Thursday in New York City from pancreatic cancer.

In the 1990s, the 74-year-old billionaire fashioned what is today Monster Worldwide from a Yellow Pages advertising firm and two of the earliest online job boards, The Monster Board and Online Career Center. McKelvey got into the advertising business in 1967 when he founded Telephone Marketing Program, which would later lend its acronym to the fledgling advertising conglomerate, TMP Worldwide.

In the early years, the Yellow Pages advertising division was the financial engine for the business. But by 2003, in acknowledgment of the direction the company was headed, TMP Worldwide became Monster Worldwide. Three years later the division was sold off piecemeal with capital fund management firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson getting the North American portion.

By then McKelvey was on his way out as chairman and CEO of the company he founded. He resigned in late 2006 in the midst of an investigation by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission into the backdating of stock options by the company. McKelvey later admitted to playing a role in authorizing the backdating and paid a cash settlement. Because of his already advanced cancer, prosecutors agreed to postpone further court action.

Less well known is McKelvey’s philanthropy. The Associated Press says that since 2001, he has donated $25 million to the Andrew J. McKelvey Lung Transplantation Center at Emory University in Atlanta and has given $3 million to the Andrew J. McKelvey Lower School at the Hewitt School in New York.

His McKelvey Foundation has supported over 600 college students across the country, and he has provided funding for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and for the Andrew J. McKelvey Campus Center at his alma mater, Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa.

McKelvey is survived by his children, Geoffrey, Stuart, Christine, Amanda, as well as six grandchildren.