INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) announced a number of initiatives yesterday to boost its online presence.

The company has launched a jobs portal in conjunction with Stepstone, Europe’s largest online recruitment portal.

Ironically, this will put the company into direct competition with Denis O’Brien, its largest shareholder. Mr O’Brien controls Irishjobs.ie, a leading online recruiter here owned by Saongroup.

INM has also teamed up with its Australian associate APN to launch an online coupon service in Ireland called GrabOne. It will launch in May, with INM owning 30 per cent of the venture and APN the balance. GrabOne has already launched in Australasia.

The online coupon space has taken off in Ireland over the past year, notably through CityDeal.ie. CityDeal.ie is owned by Groupon, which operates in 45 countries.

INM has signed a heads of agreement with Carsireland.ie to buy 50 per cent of the sales website. The deal is expected to close in April. In addition, the group has appointed Noirín Hegarty, the editor of the Sunday Tribune until it closed last month, to the new role of online editor. She will lead the “aggressive redevelopment” of Independent.ie, its Irish newspaper website.

When asked about the cost of these online ventures, Vincent Crowley, INM’s chief operating officer, said it was “not even millions [of euro]”.

INM’s online revenues rose by 13 per cent in 2010. INM chief executive Gavin O’Reilly said the company is “making money from online today”.