InfoSpace Receives Approval To Purchase Certain Excite.com Assets Significantly Expanding Distribution for its Profitable Search and Directory Products
Under agreement disclosed to the bankruptcy court, InfoSpace will power the search and directory components of Excite, and will sell and/or license the portal's other components to consumer portal iWon
BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2001--
InfoSpace, Inc. (Nasdaq:INSP), a provider of wireless and Internet software and application services, today announced that its bid to purchase certain Excite.com media assets was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.
InfoSpace will not assume the materials or costs associated with Excite's physical assets, including hardware, employees or debt. InfoSpace's success in winning the bid will significantly increase the company's position in the search and directory markets by expanding the distribution for InfoSpace's profitable and industry leading products. The InfoSpace purchase includes the right to offer wireless services to Excite.com users, enabling them to have their personalized data available on wireless networks.
InfoSpace's bid received the bankruptcy's court approval earlier today for the purchase of certain Excite@Home assets, including domain names, trademarks and user traffic associated with the Excite.com Web site.
In connection with today's sale, InfoSpace announced an Internet services agreement with iWon. Under the agreement, InfoSpace will power the search and directory components of the Excite Web site, and will sell and/or license the portal's other components to iWon.
"We believe this is a solid business opportunity that will expand distribution for our profitable search and directory products," said Naveen Jain, chairman and CEO of InfoSpace, Inc. "This opportunity is in line with our strategy to continue to license our platform of wireline products to blue-chip customers and provides another recurring revenue stream in our wireline business."
"Search and directory are at the core of InfoSpace's wireline business and Excite is a large opportunity to expose millions of users to our high-quality products," said York Baur, InfoSpace executive vice president, wireline and broadband. "Excite users should be assured that Excite.com will remain and will offer the same high quality experience and services that it always has."
About InfoSpace, Inc.
InfoSpace, Inc. (Nasdaq:INSP) provides wireless and Internet software and application services. The Company develops software technologies that enable customers to efficiently offer a broad array of network-based services under their own brand to any device.
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to the development of InfoSpace, Inc.'s products and services and future operating results, including statements regarding InfoSpace's asset sale and transition services agreement with At Home Corporation, and Internet services agreement with iWon, Inc., that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors that could affect InfoSpace's actual results include the progress and costs of the development of our products and services and the timing of market acceptance of those products and services. A more detailed description of certain factors that could affect actual results include, but are not limited to, those discussed in InfoSpace's Annual Report on Form 10-K, in the section entitled "Factors Affecting Our Operating Results, Business Prospects and Market Price of Stock." Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. InfoSpace undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. InfoSpace, Inc. Joni Hanson (Investors), 425/201-6100 [email protected] Steve Stratz (Media), 425/709-8167 [email protected]