BizBuyer.com Expands Globally With Formation of BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd.; Eddy Pirard Named President and Founder of London-Based B2B Subsidiary.

Business Editors & High-tech Writers

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2000

BizBuyer.com (http://www.bizbuyer.com), the leading business-to-business (B2B) marketplace of business services for small and mid-sized businesses, today announced its first global expansion into Europe. Based in London, England, BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd. will enable European businesses to efficiently and cost-effectively purchase a wide range of business services from qualified vendors. Eddy Pirard, former head of business development at United Kingdom-based Gallaher Group plc, has been named president and founder of the new entity.

The creation of BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd. marks the first U.S.-based request-for-quote (RFQ) marketplace to expand globally into the European market. According to GartnerGroup, worldwide electronic commerce between businesses is expected to climb to $7.3 trillion by 2004, nearly the size of America's entire gross domestic product in 1999. The U.K. site, which will be located at http://www.bizbuyer.co.uk, is expected to debut in the fall of 2000, starting with a select number of targeted business service categories. BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd. plans to extend the brand quickly into two other key European markets -- France and Germany.

BizBuyer.com, which was founded by European native Bernard Louvat, debuted in the United States in June 1999 and has raised more than $68 million in financing from leading venture capital and financial institutions, including CMGI @Ventures (Nasdaq: CMGI), the venture capital affiliate of CMGI. BizBuyer.com, which has quickly become a sophisticated purchasing solution for small and mid-sized businesses, has more than 60,000 members that can buy and sell business services across 63 categories that range from consulting services, telecommunications and insurance to financial services. Through BizBuyer.com's RFQ service, buyers can locate qualified vendors, compare and contrast competitive quotes, review buying guides and consult with expert purchasing consultants before making an informed purchasing decision.

"BizBuyer.com is a coherent, market-responsive B2B play launched worldwide by Europeans," said Marcus Bicknell, president of CMGI Europe. "CMGI in Europe is excited to be involved with their launch and happy to welcome them into the CMGI Europe family. Alongside AltaVista, Engage and other CMGI and CMGI @Ventures companies, BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd. is helping lead the CMGI charge into Europe."

"BizBuyer.com has aggressively built one of the industry's most advanced RFQ marketplaces for the U.S. business community, and we are ready to transform our core technology and infrastructure into a powerful business tool for the net-savvy European business market," said Bernard Louvat, chairman, founder and CEO of BizBuyer.com. "Mr. Pirard brings a wealth of experience from his business successes throughout Europe. We will work very closely with him and his experienced executive team to build a powerful European and global business marketplace."

"I am very excited to be launching the first U.S.-based RFQ marketplace in Europe," said Pirard, president and founder of BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd. "Bernard and his team have done an outstanding job of building the marketplace of choice among small and mid-sized companies and leading business destinations on the Web. We intend to quickly become the premier European marketplace for businesses and are very fortunate to have a superior technology platform from which to do it."

Prior to joining BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd., Pirard was responsible for mergers and acquisitions as the head of business development and a member of the management committee of Gallaher Group plc. Prior to that, he assumed general management responsibilities within SMEs, both in the United Kingdom and in Germany. In 1995, he served as president of European operations of Holmes Products, the leading U.S. manufacturer of seasonal appliances. Pirard was also engagement manager with McKinsey & Co. in London, where he focused on the consumer goods industry on a pan-European basis. Additionally, he held a marketing position for Procter & Gamble. He received his MBA in 1991 from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate degree from HEC in Belgium.

BizBuyer.com Europe Ltd., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BizBuyer.com, Inc., will be based in London, England. Pirard will report directly to Louvat. The new European operation, which currently employs more than 15 people, recently hired two senior level executives and is already in negotiations with potential strategic partners. David Piggin is director of technology and Nicholas Schoenfeld is director of business development.

Piggin was recently the technical director of e-commerce for Global Financial Markets, where he directed and built the first fully functional Foreign Exchange to Currency Options trading site. Schoenfeld recently held the position of senior manager of business development e-commerce at The Walt Disney Co. Europe, where he was responsible for identifying and closing third party Internet partnerships for initiatives such as The Disney Store Online. Schoenfeld was also an associate consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in London, and worked for BBC Worldwide to help launch beeb.com. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA Honours degree from Oxford University.

About BizBuyer.com

Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., with offices in Silicon Valley and London, England, BizBuyer.com is the leading online business-to-business marketplace that provides a customized RFQ purchasing solution for small and mid-sized businesses. The site provides a marketplace through which businesses can purchase a wide-range of business and professional services through competitive quotes from highly qualified service providers. The BizBuyer.com community currently offers screened and qualified vendors that are registered to quote in categories that range from IT consulting, Internet services and insurance to telemarketing solutions. Since the fall of 1998, BizBuyer.com has raised over $68 million in funding from venture capitalists and strategic partners that include Staples.com, Times Mirror Chandler Trust Ventures, CMGI's @Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, eCompanies Venture Group, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Ventures, US Venture Partners, Intel and a host of angel investors that includes eBay's Meg Whitman.

About CMGI and CMGI @Ventures

With more than 70 companies, CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI) represents the largest, most diverse network of Internet companies in the world, including both CMGI operating companies and synergistic investments made through its venture capital affiliate, CMGI @Ventures. CMGI leverages the technologies, content and market reach of its extended family of companies to foster rapid growth and industry leadership across its network and the larger Internet Economy. Compaq, Intel, Microsoft, Pacific Century CyberWorks and Sumitomo hold minority positions in CMGI.

CMGI's majority-owned operating companies include Engage (Nasdaq: ENGA), NaviSite (Nasdaq: NAVI), 1stUp.com, Activate, AdForce, AltaVista, CMGion, CMGI Solutions, Equilibrium, ExchangePath, iCAST, MyWay.com, NaviPath, SalesLink, Tribal Voice, uBid.com, and yesmail.com. CMGI @Ventures has ownership interests in 57 companies, including Lycos, Inc. (Nasdaq: LCOS), Critical Path (Nasdaq: CPTH), Kana Communications (Nasdaq: KANA) MotherNature.com (Nasdaq: MTHR), Ventro (Nasdaq: VNTR) and Vicinity (Nasdaq: VCNT).

CMGI's corporate headquarters is located at 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810. CMGI @Ventures has offices there, as well as at 3000 Alpine Road, Menlo Park, CA 94028. For additional information, see http://www.cmgi.com and http://www.ventures.com.