BusinessWeek Online and LeadersOnline Form An Alliance.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 2000

BusinessWeek and LeadersOnline Sign Five-Year Deal to Offer

Career-Management Products and Services to Emerging Executive Talent

BusinessWeek and LeadersOnline, a leading Web-based executive recruitment firm founded by Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. (Nasdaq:HSII), today announced an alliance to jointly produce a range of career-enhancement products and services for business leaders and companies seeking to recruit such candidates.

Under the terms of the five-year alliance, The BusinessWeek Online Careers Channel at www.businessweek.com/careers and the LeadersOnline site at www.leadersonline.com will be linked together to form a comprehensive online destination for professional and managerial talent. In addition, BusinessWeek Online will supply editorial content for the LeadersOnline Web site and produce a weekly electronic newsletter for the site's users.

The two companies also plan to test other products for affluent, educated job seekers, and the people who hire them, including a companion magazine.

The joint BusinessWeek Online-LeadersOnline Web site will provide a single destination to manage every aspect of an executive's career. Unlike sites that focus exclusively on job placement, the new site will offer career management advice and news, including coverage of compensation issues, hiring practices, industry recruitment trends and job-hunting skills.

"The goal of our alliance is to develop a single source for every aspect of career management for middle- and top-management executives worldwide," said Bill Kupper, President and Publisher of BusinessWeek. "The combined resources of Business Week and LeadersOnline will allow us to develop potent tools not merely to help people find their next job, but take charge of their careers, whether that means finding a new job or succeeding in their current one."

"BusinessWeek is a trusted news and information source for thousands of emerging business leaders throughout the world who want to maximize their professional development and opportunities for advancement in today's competitive job market. Through this strategic alliance, they will have ready access to the full breadth of tools, services and personal attention necessary to make informed decisions and effectively manage their careers," said Michael T. Christy, President of LeadersOnline. "We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding partnership with BusinessWeek."

LeadersOnline is a leading Web-based e!Cruiting solution from Heidrick & Struggles, which blends the most attractive features of the Internet with human interaction to ensure quality. LeadersOnline provides client companies the opportunity to quickly access large numbers of qualified candidates, shorten the cycle time necessary to fill search assignments and ease the search process through Web tools that facilitate candidate sourcing, tracking and matching. For prospective candidates, the LeadersOnline solution provides a confidential and secure environment that is suitable for both active and passive job seekers, and provides prospective candidates quick access to leading global employers in a variety of industries.

About BusinessWeek and the McGraw-Hill Companies

BusinessWeek is the world's largest business magazine, with a worldwide circulation of 1,087,000 and more than 5.1 million readers each week. It is published weekly by The McGraw-Hill Companies in New York, and is read in 140 countries. The magazine's first issue was published on September 7, 1929. The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP) is a global publishing, financial, information and media services company with 16,500 employees located in 400 offices in more than 32 countries. It includes such renowned brands as Standard & Poor's, BusinessWeek, and McGraw-Hill Education.

Founded in 1888, the company provides information via various media platforms: through books, magazines and newsletters; on-line over the Internet and electronic networks; via television, satellite and FM sideband broadcast; and through software, videotape, facsimile and CD-ROM products.

Recognizing the digital economy early on, The McGraw-Hill Companies now creates more than 90 percent of its information on digital platforms and its business units are represented on more than 75 Web sites. Sales in 1999 were $4.0 billion. The company is organized into three core businesses: financial services, educational and professional publishing, and information and media services.

About BusinessWeek Online

BusinessWeek Online, a recipient of the 2000 National Magazine Award for General Excellence in New Media, brings global coverage to the Internet. At www.businessweek.com, users get the first look at the current issue, as well as exclusive online content including business and financial news, investment advice, a small business resource center and tech insights. Business Week Online also features a host of interactive resources to help professionals climb the corporate ladder or increase their stake in the stock market. Delivering a high-income, highly educated audience, BusinessWeek Online is the preeminent provider of decision-making global business news, information and services. Internet Keyword: "Business Week"

About LeadersOnline

LeadersOnline is a leading business-to-business Internet marketplace that enables efficient and effective aggregation, matching and fulfillment of employer demand with candidate supply in the recruitment market for mid-level executives and professionals. As of March 31, 2000, more than 110 companies located throughout the United States and Europe have used LeadersOnline's value-added Internet-based services to match and recruit candidates into a broad range of functions. LeadersOnline is headquartered in Irvine, California, with operations throughout North America and Europe. For more information about LeadersOnline, please visit our Web site at www.leadersonline.com.