Acxiom to Acquire Pro CD, Inc.

CONWAY, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 1996--Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) today announced it has acquired Pro CD, Inc. The agreement calls for Acxiom to issue approximately 1,800,000 shares and shares under option in exchange for all of the outstanding common and preferred shares and common shares under option of Pro CD, Inc.

Pro CD, headquartered in Danvers, Massachusetts, is the world's leading independent publisher of reference software on CD-ROM for the DOS Windows/Windows 95 and the Apple Macintosh environments. The company's current product line includes telephone directories for the U.S. and Canada, integrated mapping software, and related products and services. Pro CD commands the number two position in the reference software category behind Microsoft with a 16.2 percent market share (PC Data, March 1996). The number one application area for the Pro CD product line is direct marketing.

"The acquisition of Pro CD fits perfectly within our strategy of delivering data with depth, breadth and quality to customers building marketing databases and data warehouses," said Charles D. Morgan, Jr., Acxiom's Chairman and President. "Pro CD also provides Acxiom an excellent entry point into the rapidly growing small office/home office market."

Select Phone Deluxe, Pro CD's flagship product, was recognized in March by the Software Publishers Association with a Codie Award for the Best New Business Product in 1995. The company is expanding aggressively in the small office/home office market by leveraging its unique content into new channels, including the Internet and commercial and professional on-line services, and by being the leader in providing desktop marketing functionality to this marketplace.

"We are enormously excited about the many opportunities we will now be able to seize as part of the Acxiom family," said Jim Bryant, Pro CD's President and CEO. "After the merger, Pro CD will have even greater resources enabling us to introduce a wider spectrum of innovative desktop marketing and reference tools on CD-ROM and through the Internet."

Acxiom and Pro CD will both immediately benefit from improved data compilation efficiency, since both companies incur considerable expense compiling telephone directory white pages.

Pro CD publishes update reference content throughout the year, providing an ongoing stream of recurring revenue. A variety of new reference titles are scheduled for introduction this year.

Acxiom will enhance the data content of Pro CD's products, and users of these products will have access, via the Internet, to additional Acxiom data products that can be used for marketing purposes. Each company provides the other the synergy required to execute their strategies on an accelerated schedule.

A recognized leader in providing marketing services since 1969, Acxiom is enhancing and expanding its data delivery capabilities through business partner relationships and the development of other new channels, including the Internet.

Acxiom delivers a wide spectrum of data products, data integration services, mailing list processing services, as well as data warehousing and decision support services to major firms in the United States and the United Kingdom.

CONTACT: Acxiom Corporation, Conway

Robert S. Bloom, 501/336-1321