Business Objects Names Tom Schroeder as Group Vice President, Corporate Development.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2001

Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, today announced the appointment of Tom Schroeder to the position of group vice president, corporate development.

In this role, Schroeder is responsible for acquisitions, equity investments, and other technology licensing transactions. He will also have responsibility for the strategy development process. Schroeder reports directly to Bernard Liautaud, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board.

Schroeder brings over 25 years of business experience, including over 15 years engaged in the development and negotiation of a wide range of technology transactions. Prior to Business Objects, Schroeder held senior positions at Sun Microsystems in corporate development, strategic relations, and venture investment.

"I am excited to have Tom's perspective and experience on my senior management team. I expect Tom to bring great ideas and solid execution to Business Objects," said Bernard Liautaud. "In the past, Business Objects has completed acquisitions with focus and success. Corporate development will continue to be an important part of the Business Objects strategy going forward. As such, I am very pleased to have Tom join us to lead that effort."

"Business Objects is a successful, growing company and I am excited to help shape its future growth. I look forward to working with the Business Objects team to identify creative ways for the company to use acquisitions, investments, and other technology partnerships to build on the success and momentum that already exists," stated Tom Schroeder.

Prior to working at Sun, Schroeder held a wide range of primarily West Coast positions at Xerox in strategic partnering, corporate development, and financial management. Schroeder holds a bachelors degree in engineering from Purdue University and a masters degree in management from the Sloan School at MIT.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the world wide web. Founded in 1990, Business Objects pioneered the modern business intelligence industry by inventing and patenting a "semantic layer" that insulates users from the technical complexity of database systems. Today, the company has over 11,500 customers in more than 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris: code SICOVAM 12074, and included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408/953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

Note to Editors: BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. WebIntelligence is a registered trademark of Business Objects SA. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.