Concepts Direct, Inc. Announces the Formation of Two Subsidiary Companies.Business Editors LONGMONT Longmont, city (1990 pop. 51,555), Boulder co., N Colo.; inc. 1885. It is a trade and processing center for a rich farm area irrigated by the Colorado–Big Thompson project. Vitamins, primary metal products, and manufacturing equipment are produced. , Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2000 Concepts Direct, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDIR CDIR Cumulative Damage Index Right Engine CDIR Chemical Demilitarization and Installation Restoration CDIR Channel Distribution Information at the Receiver ) announced today that it is forming two subsidiary companies, iConcepts, Inc. and BOTWEB (Best Of The WEB) A now defunct site that listed exemplary Web sites in a variety of categories. The BOTWEB seal signified that a site had been evaluated on presentation, functionality and content and was one of the best of its kind on the Web. , Inc. In addition, the company announced that J. Michael Wolfe Michael Wolfe (Born 3 April, 1945, United States) is a poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation. He is also a frequent lecturer on Islamic issues at universities across the United States including Harvard, Georgetown, Stanford, SUNY will become the Chief Executive Officer of Concepts Direct, Inc., allowing Chairman Phillip Phillip is a variant of the name Philip. It may refer to: Given name:
Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the businesses. Concepts Direct believes that moving its new Internet See Web 2.0 and Internet2. businesses to subsidiary corporations will provide the best opportunity for investors to understand company strategy and benefit from assets that have been created to support the company's Internet initiatives. The parent company will continue to operate the established catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. business and associated Internet sites. Currently, Concepts Direct owns and operates five catalogs: Colorful Images, Linda A set of parallel processing functions added to languages, such as C and C++, that allows data to be created and transferred between processes. It was developed by Yale professor David Gelernter, when he was a 23-year old graduate student. Anderson Anderson, river, Canada Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Arctic , Linda Anderson's Collectibles, Snoopy Snoopy world’s most famous beagle. [Comics: “Peanuts” in Horn, 542] See : Dogs Snoopy imaginative dog. [Comics: “Peanuts” in Horn, 542–543] See : Illusion (TM) etc. and the Music Stand. It will be the mission of Concepts Direct to achieve strong earnings accompanied by solid revenue growth. iConcepts, the first of the two new subsidiary companies, will operate as a business incubator Business incubators are organizations that support the entrepreneurial process, helping to increase survival rates for innovative startup companies. Entrepreneurs with feasible projects are selected and admitted into the incubators, where they are offered a specialized menu of . Its mission will be to conceptualize con·cep·tu·al·ize v. con·cep·tu·al·ized, con·cep·tu·al·iz·ing, con·cep·tu·al·iz·es v.tr. To form a concept or concepts of, and especially to interpret in a conceptual way: and develop new Internet businesses, moving some of them to subsidiaries after a management team is in place and iConcepts believes the business is sufficiently developed. iConcepts will also provide technology support to Concepts Direct, BOTWEB and third parties. Services offered by iConcepts will include site hosting and development, online order processing and database management. Although many iConcepts projects will be Internet retailing, it is also anticipated that iConcepts will develop non-retailing businesses. A primary example is the second new company, BOTWEB, a new Internet portal that is currently operating at http://www.botweb.com. BOTWEB is a subsidiary of iConcepts and initially will be owned entirely by iConcepts. BOTWEB is designed to be a superior portal for consumers and a superior marketplace for advertisers. It offers a variety of free services (O.Eng. Law) such feudal services as were not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum of money, etc. See also: Free , including Internet search, email, driving directions and maps, news, weather and sports. BOTWEB's strategy is to enhance current features, add new features, build traffic and emerge as one of the leading portals on the Internet. Initial marketing for BOTWEB is designed to attract a diverse audience with a particular focus on serving women who are known Internet or catalog shoppers. Separate financing of the new companies is anticipated in the future, but no specific financing is pending. Details regarding the operation of each of the three companies follows. Concepts Direct Concepts Direct will continue to operate its catalog business and the Internet sites associated with its catalog brands. Concepts Direct owns five catalogs: Colorful Images, Linda Anderson, Linda Anderson's Collectibles, Snoopy(TM) etc. and the Music Stand. It will continue to own and operate http://www.LindaAnderson.com and http://www.theMusicStand.com. It is developing ColorfulImages.com and Snoopyetc.com. The Linda Anderson's Collectibles merchandise is available at LindaAnderson.com. J. Michael Wolfe, a director of the company who has served as President and Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. since 1992, has been promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer. Phillip A. Wiland, who had served as Chairman 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. of Concepts Direct since its inception, will continue his role as Chairman. Commenting on these changes, Mr. Wiland said: "I have anticipated for several years that Mike Wolfe Mike Wolfe was the elected mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, England, from 2002, until coming fourth out of eight in his bid for re-election in May 2005 where a record 9,600 people defaced their ballot papers. Wolfe was born in Yorkshire. would become CEO of Concepts Direct. This is an excellent time to promote Mike into this role. He is very well prepared for the assignment. I believe our aggressive catalog development period (1998-1999) has ended successfully, and that all the new catalogs performed well in the fourth quarter of 1999 and early in 2000. The management team that reports to Mike is experienced and talented. I am pleased to announce Mike's Mike's may be:
Mr. Wolfe, commenting on his new assignment, said: "I anticipate that this will be an easy transition. Phil PHIL Philosophy Phil Philippine PHIL Philippians PHIL Philadelphia, PA, USA PHIL Public Health Image Library (US CDC) and I have worked well together for years and will continue to do so. I believe the future of Concepts Direct is bright. Colorful Images is our only large volume catalog, but each of the others showed great promise during the later part of 1999. When we focus on it independently of the subsidiaries, I expect Concepts Direct to grow at a solid pace and post steadily improving earnings. The catalog business will be our focus, but I also expect the Internet channel The Internet Channel is a version of the Opera 9 web browser for use on the Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo.[1] On December 22, 2006, a free beta version (promoted as a "trial version") of the browser was released. to be increasingly important to Concepts Direct. As we focus on our traditional channels we will strive to build the Internet channel - and to do so profitably. "Although we will restrict development of new catalogs until earnings are strong, we plan to extend our successful microniche program and to test narrowly niched catalogs under our existing brands. A new special edition of our Colorful Images catalog, entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: Colorful Christmas Christmas [Christ's Mass], in the Christian calendar, feast of the nativity of Jesus, celebrated in Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches on Dec. 25. In liturgical importance it ranks after Easter, Pentecost, and Epiphany (Jan. 6). , proved to be a very successful test in the fall of 1999, so we will carefully pursue other similar programs in 2000 and beyond. As record earnings are restored, we will begin to develop and test new niche catalogs slowly, investing at a pace that will not excessively erode Erode (ĕrōd`), city (1991 urban agglomeration pop. 361,755), Tamil Nadu state, S India, on the Kaveri River. The city is located in a cotton-growing region, and its industries include cotton ginning and the manufacture of transport equipment. earnings. We will also consider strategic acquisitions that fit well within our company framework and leverage our existing customer database. Acquisition of the Music Stand catalog appears to have been an excellent step for our company, indicating that acquisition is a reasonable means by which our company can pursue growth strategies." Concepts Direct plans to accelerate the rate at which it reserves for inventory obsolescence ob·so·les·cent adj. 1. Being in the process of passing out of use or usefulness; becoming obsolete. 2. Biology Gradually disappearing; imperfectly or only slightly developed. . The change will result in a substantial increase in inventory reserve for the fourth quarter of 1999. The change in reserve will have no cash effect, but will result in an approximately $2,200,000 charge in the fourth quarter of 1999. It will also cause reserves to be more conservative on an ongoing basis. David H. Haddon, who has served as Accounting Manager, Controller and Vice President of Concepts Direct since joining the company in 1984 has been promoted to Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Concepts Direct. H. Franklin Marcus, who had served as Chief Financial Officer of Concepts Direct since its inception, will continue as Corporate Secretary and Treasurer for a transition period. In summarizing these developments, Mr. Wolfe commented that "Dave Haddon and other members of the Concepts Direct management team have been working together for many years. All of us have a deep understanding of our business and share a vision for our future. I believe Concepts Direct is poised to make solid progress in 2000 and beyond. Our management team is committed to producing solid top line and bottom line growth for our catalog business." iConcepts Mr. Wiland will serve as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of iConcepts and Mr. Marcus will be Chief Financial Officer. J. Benjamin Gill gill, in weights and measures gill, in weights and measures: see English units of measurement. was a Vice President of Concepts Direct and assisted with the development of all company Internet sites. Mr. Gill will serve as Vice President of Concept Development for iConcepts. Phillip A. Tobias, who was Vice President of Information Technology of Concepts Direct, will be Vice President of Information Technology for iConcepts. Mr. Tobias oversaw o·ver·saw v. Past tense of oversee. the development of the company's order processing and fulfillment ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. systems as well as the creation of its Internet infrastructure. This software is now owned by iConcepts. iConcepts will provide database management, Internet site development and hosting and other technology services to Concepts Direct. Commenting on the establishment of iConcepts, Mr. Wiland said: "In 1971 I established a technology services company, Wiland Services, Inc., that grew to be one of the most respected in its field. Since we sold Wiland Services in 1992 and created Concepts Direct in a spin-off The situation that arises when a parent corporation organizes a subsidiary corporation, to which it transfers a portion of its assets in exchange for all of the subsidiary's capital stock, which is subsequently transferred to the parent corporation's shareholders. , technology has continued to be at the heart of our business endeavors. Now, with the formation of iConcepts, I believe we have a fantastic opportunity to further capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. our technology background and expertise. I am surrounded sur·round tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds 1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle. 2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication. n. by key people who helped make Wiland Services successful and who built the robust order fulfillment Order fulfillment (in BE also: order fulfilment) is in the most general sense the complete process from point of sales inquiry to delivery of a product to the customer. Sometimes Order fulfillment and Internet infrastructure that we have in use today for our catalogs and Internet sites. Together I believe we have the combination of technical talent, business development and management skills and customer service experience necessary to create numerous successful businesses. As a result, I believe Concepts Direct shareholders not only have an established catalog business with a bright future but also subsidiaries run by a team that is capable of building a dynamic Internet business." iConcepts will pursue several opportunities: 1. Technology Services: iConcepts will provide database management, order processing and Internet site hosting and development services. Initially, the focus will be on providing these services to Concepts Direct Inc and BOTWEB. Once appropriate financing is arranged, and the services required by Concepts Direct and BOTWEB are running smoothly, iConcepts expects to also offer these services to third parties. Utilizing the technology infrastructure that has been developed over a period of several years, iConcepts begins with a robust technology platform. It should serve Concepts Direct well, facilitate the development of an e-tail store at BOTWEB and also offer a proven platform that established retailers and new Internet retailers can utilize to quickly obtain state of the art technology services. Commenting on the technology services capabilities of iConcepts, Mr. Wiland said: "I believe the iConcepts database management, order fulfillment and Internet site development and hosting software we've now introduced may be the best work we've ever done. We don't have every desirable feature in place, but I believe the software is already excellent - perhaps among the best in existence. I have great confidence in our team." Mr. Tobias added: "We are currently running the second release of our Internet software, which is fully integrated with our established order fulfillment software. The software is stable, proven and we designed it to serve many companies. Purchasing, general ledger General Ledger A company's accounting records. This formal ledger contains all the financial accounts and statements of a business. Notes: The ledger uses two columns: one records debits, the other has offsetting credits. , receiving, warehousing, order fulfillment, shipping, marketing reporting, Internet site development and hosting are all integrated. We plan to gradually add a variety of new features - but the current version is excellent. I believe we can build a great business on this platform." 2. New Internet Retailing Brands: The first iConcepts Internet retailing site, http://iGift.com, was launched in December. No significant marketing activity has yet occurred as the company continues to enhance the site. The company intends to increase the depth of merchandise available before increasing marketing activity. New items are being added daily. iGift currently offers over 7,000 gifts, mostly for women. iGift plans to increase the diversity of price points for women's gifts while significantly increasing the overall selection for men and children. Within a few months, the company expects iGift to have an excellent selection of gift items for women, men and children - and for all popular gift occasions. Once that goal has been achieved, marketing activity will be increased. Commenting on iGift.com, Mr. Gill said: "I believe iGift.com has the potential to be the best gift shopping site on the Internet. I believe the Gift Finder feature at iGift is already superior to any I have seen. As we add more products, consumers will be even more impressed im·press 1 tr.v. im·pressed, im·press·ing, im·press·es 1. To affect strongly, often favorably: with the results they achieve using Gift Finder. I'm also excited about the Reminder Service feature, which enables customers to receive free email reminders about important occasions and events." The second iConcepts Internet retailing business is NewBargains.com. Having just launched on January 31, 2000, NewBargains has initially offered over 3,000 items at prices ranging from approximately 25% to 85% off the original retail price. All are "new" in the sense that they are first quality, non-damaged, original packaging items. The site is also "new" in the sense that new items are being added regularly and at least some items have their price lowered every day. Consumers will be encouraged to return frequently to see the "deepest discount," "daily special" and other featured products. Commenting on NewBargains.com, Mr. Gill said: "We believe there is a huge opportunity to build a substantial Internet business in the off-retail market. Consumers love bargains - especially when the bargain is a first quality item. That's exactly what NewBargains will deliver, every day. Initially our selection will be limited to excess inventory items that NewBargains will sell under an arrangement with Concepts Direct. If this proves to be successful, we will consider adding excess inventory of other retailers and catalog companies, providing them an opportunity to liquidate To pay and settle the amount of a debt; to convert assets to cash; to aggregate the assets of an insolvent enterprise and calculate its liabilities in order to settle with the debtors and the creditors and apportion the remaining assets, if any, among the stockholders or owners of the popular excess items above cost and gradually lower the price systematically until all items are sold. Excess inventory is a problem for almost all retailers, in varying degrees. We will attempt to make NewBargains.com an excellent solution to this problem." The third iConcepts Internet retailing business is TheBearHouse.com. This site launched on February 14 and offers a broad selection of collectibles merchandise that features the Boyds Collection as well as products from the Judith G. line. Commenting on TheBearHouse.com, Mr. Gill said: "We have seen a strong response to Judith G. and the Boyds collection in our catalogs for years now. We believe there is an opportunity to build a successful, niche Internet site that appeals to the people who are devoted collectors of these lines." One other iConcepts Internet retailing site is planned for the near future. YourCountryStore.com will feature country style merchandise, mostly under contract with Concepts Direct. Some items will be added to diversify diversify To acquire a variety of assets that do not tend to change in value at the same time. To diversify a securities portfolio is to purchase different types of securities in different companies in unrelated industries. the product selection. No additional iConcepts sites are scheduled for launch until iGift.com, NewBargains.com, theBearHouse.com and YourCountryStore.com are further developed and marketing efforts for the sites have been tested. 3. Other Internet Opportunities: iConcepts has several hundred registered URL's covering a wide variety of industries, interests and opportunities. No specific plans are in place beyond what has been announced. No additional major sites will be undertaken until sites currently under development are launched and additional financing is arranged. Over the long term, iConcepts expects to develop many Internet businesses, including some that are not rooted primarily in the Internet retailing, site hosting and database management technology already in place at iConcepts. The first example of this strategy is BOTWEB.com. BOTWEB BOTWEB is an acronym acronym: see abbreviation. A word typically made up of the first letters of two or more words; for example, BASIC stands for "Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. for Best Of The WEB. BOTWEB.com is an Internet portal that plans to gradually add features, build traffic and compete effectively with portals such as Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO YHOO Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ symbol) ), Lycos (NASDAQ: LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) A technology used to make microdisplays for rear-projection TVs and head-mounted displays (HMDs). Each LCoS chip hosts a grayscale LCD shutter sandwiched between a cover glass and a mirror. ), GoTo.com (NASDAQ: GOTO) and others. The initial version of BOTWEB is available for use at http://www.botweb.com. Besides offering a directory and Internet search of reviewed sites that BOTWEB has classified Best Of The WEB, it offers a variety of free services, including email, driving directions and maps, local movie listings, headline news, sports news, stock quotes, national white pages and yellow pages. New features will be added periodically, the objective being to provide a full set of consumer services Consumer Services refers to the formulation, deformulation, technical consulting and testing of most consumer products, such as food, herbs, beverages, vitamins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, hair products, household cleaners, [paints, plastics, metals, waxes, coatings, minerals, . Mr. Wiland is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of BOTWEB. Stephen P. McKee, formerly Vice President for BOTWEB with Concepts Direct, is President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Marcus is Chief Financial Officer. BOTWEB currently has a site database of about 11,000 Best Of The WEB and User Suggested sites. A steadily increasing number of visitors are suggesting sites. In addition, more than 700,000 sites which have not yet been reviewed for Best Of The WEB status will be added to the database in the near future to provide more comprehensive search results. An editorial team of Channel Managers, site evaluators and site reviewers is reviewing these and other sites daily for consideration for Best Of The WEB status. BOTWEB's goal is to develop a large volume of loyal traffic by providing users superior service - better search results, better site descriptions and a competitive selection of free services. BOTWEB is designed to exclude pornography pornography Depiction of erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement. The word originally signified any work of art or literature depicting the life of prostitutes. , violence and certain other content so it may be especially appealing to families. A large homework help section is also being developed for this market. Top-quality shopping sites are also a focus. Mr. McKee said: "I believe BOTWEB has tremendous potential. Once our content plan is well developed, we should save users time and effort by finding the best sites for them in virtually any category - they won't have to sift through a staggering number of weak sites as is the case at so many portals now. Already a significant number of users are returning to use BOTWEB again. As we add features and expand the site database, I expect even more users to begin adopting BOTWEB as their portal of choice. One of our goals is to achieve a very high repeat visitor rate because we provide the best search and other features. It will take time to be fully competitive, but I believe we have made an excellent start." Summary In moving its new Internet businesses to subsidiary corporations, Concepts Direct believes it has provided the best opportunity for investors to understand company strategy and benefit from the new assets that have been created to support the company's Internet initiatives. The original company, Concepts Direct, will focus on the well-established catalog business and attempt to achieve strong earnings accompanied by solid revenue growth. It will also pursue the Internet channel for sites directly associated with the catalog brands - with short-term Short-term Any investments with a maturity of one year or less. short-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss on the value of an asset that has been held less than a specified period of time. profitability as the objective. iConcepts will provide technology support to Concepts Direct and BOTWEB - and perhaps to others. Its mission will be to also conceptualize and develop new Internet businesses, moving some of them to subsidiaries after a management team is in place and the idea is well developed. Some of these will be Internet retailing businesses that utilize existing iConcepts software. Others, such as BOTWEB, will be primarily in other markets. BOTWEB will attempt to become a major Internet portal. It expects to build traffic and add content and features as rapidly as capital will allow. Its goal is to be among the leaders in providing services to consumers and advertising opportunities to marketers. The short-term focus of the new businesses will be on improving the quality of their Internet sites, increasing traffic to those sites and obtaining additional capital to allow these sites to develop more rapidly. This press release contains certain 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. as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. Company statements that are not historical facts, including statements about management's expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements and involve various risks and uncertainties. Additional discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives is contained in the Company's SEC filings. |
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