CNET acquires Esther Dyson's EDventure Holdings, including her RELease 1.0 newsletter.

RELease 1.0, a highly regarded "insider-style" newsletter for the electronics industry, has long been associated with its noted editor, Esther Dyson. But it began life in the late 1970s as Morgan Stanley Electronics Letter edited by Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin M. Rosen (who is considered one of the "fathers" of the PC industry for funding Lotus and Compaq on their way up the tech ladder).

In the early 1980s, Ben Rosen left Morgan Stanley and hung out his own venture-capital shingle, taking his newsletter with him and renaming it RELease 1.0--"REL" standing for "Rosen Electronics Letter."

As Rosen became busier and busier with his venture capital business, he hired a young man now known to many in the newsletter industry, George Gilder. After a year or two, Esther Dyson took over Gilder's position and eventually bought the newsletter and conference business from Rosen, who went on to become chairman of Compaq.

The "humble" business-to-business RELease 1.0 newsletter outlived the giants Compaq and Lotus, both of which were absorbed by even bigger computer companies.

Under the leadership of Dyson and Daphne Kis, their company, EDventure Holdings, built up the newsletter to become a leading authority in the technology industry and they developed the PC (Platforms for Communication) Forum, a prestigious annual technology conference for IT executives, entrepreneurs and investors.

Enter CNET 

Now CNET Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: CNET-News), a leading global interactive content company, has acquired EDventure Holdings in a cash and stock transaction. The Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc., New York City, represented EDventure in the deal.

The acquisition will join CNET's other business technology brands such as ZDNet and TechRepublic, which currently reach six million technology executives in an average month in the U.S. alone. Through EDventure's long-established and carefully maintained network of corporate, Wall Street and Washington, D.C., leaders, CNET plans to deepen its ties with C-level and IT executive audiences and establish entry points into financial, political and technology start-up audiences, according to Shelby Bonnie, chairman of CNET Networks.

Dyson, Kis and other staff members are staying on board. Dyson will become editor-at-large of CNET's Business Technology division. She said, "CNET Networks shares our high standard for intelligent journalism and editorial integrity, and it espouses our vision for the future of interactive content as a conversation."

Kis told NL/NL, "We hope to leverage the resources offered us by the acquisition to further develop the reach of RELease 1.0 and its ancillary content. RELease 1.0, PC Forum, and Esther as a noted commentator of emerging business and technology trends will continue to be the focus of our work."

EDventure Holdings, 104 Fifth Ave., 20th Floor, New York, NY 10011, 212-924-8800, fax [phone], www.edventure.com CNET, www.CNET.com