550 Digital Media Ventures, a Sony Group Company, to Take Up to $17 Million Equity Stake in eUniverse in Exchange for Cash and Assets.Business Editors LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 2001 Pact Includes the Acquisition of InfoBeat, the Leading Personalized per·son·al·ize tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. News and Entertainment Email Service See Internet e-mail service. , for $9.94 Million in eUniverse Stock and Additional Purchase of eUniverse Stock for $5 Million Cash eUniverse, Inc. (Nasdaq:EUNI EUNI Ethernet Uni ), the leading interactive entertainment network, and 550 Digital Media Ventures (550 DMV DMV abbr. Department of Motor Vehicles ), a Sony Group (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :SNE SNe Supernovae (astronomy) SNE Sony Corporation (stock symbol) SNE Syndicat National de l'edition (French Publisher's Association) SNE Society for Nutrition Education ) company and a subsidiary of Sony Broadband Entertainment, today announced that 550 DMV will take up to a $17 million equity stake in eUniverse in exchange for cash and assets. This deal includes the following points: -- 550 DMV will make a $5 million equity investment in eUniverse and gain a seat on the Board of Directors -- eUniverse will purchase InfoBeat, the leading personalized news and entertainment email service with 8 million active daily subscribers, from 550 DMV for $9.94 million in eUniverse equity -- eUniverse receives the option, subject to certain future conditions, to convert a $2.1 million note to equity -- In addition, 550 DMV and eUniverse are exploring options for marketing and distribution opportunities for other Sony Group companies on eUniverse's network InfoBeat will join eUniverse's network of email newsletter services, which aggregated reach over 50 million subscribers. InfoBeat will continue to deliver its free, daily email newsletters, in areas including Entertainment, Finance, News, Sports, and Fun. InfoBeat, a pioneer in email news delivery, culls culls the animals extracted from a herd or flock by culling. reports from the most respected news organizations in the world and delivers nearly 60 million email messages weekly to consumers. "eUniverse has built a tremendous audience by delivering compelling online entertainment that people want to see," said Fred Ehrlich, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , 550 Digital Media Ventures. "With massive reach through both Web and email distribution, eUniverse has become a leader in online permission and performance marketing techniques. With the infusion of capital and the addition of the leading email service InfoBeat, we believe eUniverse will continue to be one of the winners in the online space." "550 Digital Media Ventures' decision to become a significant shareholder and a strategic partner is a tremendous affirmation of the eUniverse business model, and speaks to the accomplishments of our management team," said Brad Greenspan Brad Greenspan is an internet entrepreneur who has been involved in the founding and proliferation of web properties including MySpace. Greenspan founded eUniverse Inc. (later renamed Intermix Media) in 1998, which went public in 1999.[1] The company survived the . , chairman and CEO, eUniverse. "The acquisition of InfoBeat will put eUniverse above the 50 million email subscriber threshold, and will significantly broaden the offerings of our network, one of the most successful online today. This transaction will result in minimal additional costs for eUniverse, and we expect this addition to have an accretive impact on our operating results. The cash investment will allow eUniverse to ramp up Ramp Up To increase a company's operations in anticipation of increased demand. Notes: A company might 'ramp up' operations if they just signed a contract creating substantially more demand for their product. See also: Demand, Economies of Scale its aggressive growth strategy and take advantage of many opportunities in the current environment." "Since we acquired InfoBeat two years ago, InfoBeat's subscriber base has grown rapidly from 1.9 million to 8 million active subscribers," said Mark Wachen, CEO of Indimi. "The unparalleled reach that will be created by combining InfoBeat's highly engaged audience with the rest of the eUniverse email network will provide outstanding opportunities for marketers." InfoBeat was part of Indimi, 550 DMV's online direct marketing family of brands, which include the AdTools business-to-business service, along with the MessageMates, Tooned, and DailyRating consumer services Consumer Services refers to the formulation, deformulation, technical consulting and testing of most consumer products, such as food, herbs, beverages, vitamins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, hair products, household cleaners, [paints, plastics, metals, waxes, coatings, minerals, . 550 DMV's price point for the combination of transactions shall be in part determined by the average closing price of eUniverse's stock price for the 15 trading days after today's announcement. 550 DMV has agreed to lock up its received shares available for sale in the public market for 1.5 years from the closing date. The specific terms and closing conditions of the transactions are provided in the Company's Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. About eUniverse eUniverse, Inc. (www.euniverse.com) is the Internet's leading interactive entertainment network. Focusing on diversion-oriented content, eUniverse is consistently ranked as a top 10 weekly Internet property according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Nielsen//NetRatings. The eUniverse network includes Flowgo (www.flowgo.com), the largest entertainment Web site according to Nielsen//NetRatings; dating site Cupid Junction (www.cupidjunction.com); leading community site Just Say Wow (www.justsaywow.com); and one of the largest email newsletter networks, delivering entertaining and informative content to more than 40 million subscribers, including the recently acquired IntelligentX family of online publications. About 550 Digital Media Ventures 550 Digital Media Ventures is a subsidiary of Sony Broadband Entertainment, the US holding company for Sony's music, motion picture, television, and related entertainment assets. The company, currently operates and/or manages a portfolio of many leading and emerging Internet companies as a strategic investor, partner, and advisor. About InfoBeat InfoBeat, a pioneer in email news delivery, delivers free, daily news straight to its 8 million active daily subscribers' email inboxes. InfoBeat culls its reports from the most respected news organizations in the world and delivers more than 60 million email messages weekly to consumers, on topics including Entertainment, Finance, News, Sports, and Fun. All InfoBeat emails are available in either text or HTML HTML in full HyperText Markup Language Markup language derived from SGML that is used to prepare hypertext documents. Relatively easy for nonprogrammers to master, HTML is the language used for documents on the World Wide Web. formats. Subscription to the service is free and easy at www.infobeat.com. Safe Harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. Statement Information contained in this news release contains "forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. " which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "may," "should," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or given that the future results covered by such forward-looking statements will be achieved. The preceding matters constitute cautionary statements identifying important factors with respect to such forward-looking statements, including certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from the future results covered in such forward-looking statements. Other factors could also cause actual results to vary materially from the future results covered in such forward-looking statements. |
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