Amazon.com Announces Investment in WineShopper.com.Business Editors SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2000 Leading online retailer Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN AMZN Amazon.com (NASDAQ symbol) ) (www.amazon.com) today announced its investment in WineShopper.com, the San Francisco- and Napa-based Internet start up that will ultimately offer consumers access to the largest selection of wines available anywhere. Amazon.com invested $30 million in 1999. WineShopper.com's site (www.wineshopper.com) launched today and is currently serving customers in California only. The company plans to roll out on a state-by-state basis, with the goal of serving between 70 and 80 percent of the U.S. market by the 2000 holiday season. "Amazon.com strives to be the e-commerce destination where consumers can find and discover anything they want to buy online," said Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos (born January 12, 1964 , Albuquerque ) is the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Bezos, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. , Amazon.com founder 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. . "One of the ways we can achieve this is by joining with companies like WineShopper.com, who are determined to provide the best possible customer experience." "Today marks a major milestone for our company and we are proud to be partnering with Amazon.com, the world's leading online retailer, as we leverage the Internet's power to bring customers an exceptional wine buying experience," said Peter Sisson, WineShopper.com founder and CEO. "The Internet represents a tremendous opportunity to effectively serve the $100 billion global wine market -- it allows us to turn a buying experience that is information-deficient and intimidating in the physical world into a very information rich, satisfying shopping experience." WineShopper.com has exclusive content partnerships with Wine Spectator Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine. Founded as a newsprint tabloid by Bob Morrisey in 1976, it was purchased three years later by publisher Marvin R. Shanken. In 2005, paid circulation was over 382,000 and the magazine reached an estimated 2. , WineToday.com, The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times on the Web, and Boston.com (all part of Times Company Digital), Wine & Spirits, Food & Wine, and Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine. Site visitors will be able to access reviews, ratings and editorial material from these and other leading content partners. R. Michael Mondavi, president and CEO of Robert Mondavi Robert Gerald Mondavi born May 18 1913 in Virginia, Minnesota, United States is a leading vineyard operator whose technical improvements and marketing strategies brought (MOND MOND Modified Newtonian Dynamics (missing dark matter theory) ) and one of the industry's most respected leaders, sits on the company's Board of Directors. More than 550 wineries, importers and suppliers, and 250 wholesalers in 45 states representing about 85 percent of the U.S. population, have agreed to participate in the WineShopper system. The WineShopper.com model has received documented acknowledgement from regulatory authorities in the majority of states, and will not open for business in a state until after this process has taken place. About Amazon.com Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries) is the Internet's No. 1 music, No. 1 DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. and video, and No. 1 book retailer. Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection, along with online auctions and free electronic greeting cards See e-card. . Amazon.com lists more than 18 million unique items in categories including books, CDs, toys, electronics, videos, DVDs, home improvement products, software, and video games See video game console. . Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's more than 17 million customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, any seller can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments. The company also participates in sothebys.amazon.com, the leading auction site for guaranteed art, jewelry jewelry, personal adornments worn for ornament or utility, to show rank or wealth, or to follow superstitious custom or fashion. The most universal forms of jewelry are the necklace, bracelet, ring, pin, and earring. , and collectibles, at www.sothebys.amazon.com. Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online. Amazon.com's All Product Search scours scour, scours 1. the chemical and physical cleaning of fleece wool. 2. diarrhea. dietetic scour see dietary diarrhea. peat scour see secondary nutritional copper deficiency. the Web to help customers find merchandise that is not available at Amazon.com, Amazon.com Auctions, or Amazon.com zShops, making Amazon.com the shopping destination to find anything. Amazon.com Anywhere is the leader in mobile e-commerce, providing access from anywhere in the world to Amazon.com through handheld wireless Internet devices using the Wireless Application Protocol, at www.amazon.com/phone/ and on personal digital assistants (PDAs). Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.de. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 220,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to 2003. Amazon.com has invested in leading Internet retailers that are improving the lives of customers by making shopping easier and more convenient: Greenlight.com, the only company that offers car buyers the control of auto purchasing online with ongoing service and support from local dealerships, at www.greenlight.com; living.com, the leading online home products and services retailer, at www.living.com; drugstore.com, an online retail and information source for health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy, at www.drugstore.com; Pets.com, the online leader for pet products, expert information, and services, at www.pets.com; HomeGrocer.com, the first fully integrated Internet grocery-shopping and home-delivery service--with operations in Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and Southern California--at www.homegrocer.com; Gear.com, which offers brand-name sporting goods Noun 1. sporting goods - sports equipment sold as a commodity commodity, trade good, good - articles of commerce sports equipment - equipment needed to participate in a particular sport at prices from 20 to 90 percent off retail, at www.gear.com; and Ashford.com, the leading Internet retailer of luxury and premium products and the Web's No. 1 retailer of watches and jewelry, at www.ashford.com; Audible, Inc., the leader in Internet-delivered spoken audio for PC-based listening or playback on AudibleReady(TM) portable digital audio devices, at www.audible.com; and eZiba.com, a leading online retailer of handcrafted hand·craft n. Variant of handicraft. tr.v. hand·craft·ed, hand·craft·ing, hand·crafts To fashion or make by hand. hand·craft products from around the world, at www.eziba.com. Amazon.com also has a minority interest in Della.com, which brings together leading retailers with gift registry, expert advice, and 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. gift suggestions to help everyone give better gifts, at www.della.com; NextCard, Inc., considered the industry's leading issuer of consumer credit on the Internet, at www.nextcard.com; and Kozmo.com, the world's leading "e-mmediate" Internet-to-door delivery service, at www.kozmo.com. This announcement 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. that involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, anticipated losses, significant amount of indebtedness, unpredictability of future revenues, potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, consumer trends, competition, risk of distribution center expansion, risks related to fourth quarter performance, risks of system interruption, management of potential growth, inventory risks, risks related to auction and zShops services, risks related to fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and risks of new business areas, international expansion, business combinations, and strategic alliances. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on 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. for the year ended December 31, 1999. |
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