NewsEdge Corporation Launches NewsPage.com, Inc. Subsidiary; Debuts Totally Free Version of NewsPage.com Taps Internet Industry Veterans to Spearhead Growth
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 1999--NewsEdge
Corporation (Nasdaq:NEWZ), the leading independent provider of global
news and current awareness services, today announced that it has
completed the creation of its wholly owned subsidiary, NewsPage.com,
Inc., the leader in delivering personalized news and information to
business people over the Web.
New Subsidiary
NewsEdge will invest significantly in its wholly owned subsidiary
to grow the reach, advertising, sponsorship and e-commerce
opportunities for the NewsPage.com service. This corporate investment,
including the transfer of cash, fixed assets, intellectual property,
license and service agreements, and human resources, will complete the
formation of NewsPage.com as a wholly owned operating subsidiary.
"Setting up NewsPage.com, Inc. as a separate subsidiary is all
about unlocking shareholder value for NewsEdge," said Don McLagan,
Chairman and CEO of NewsEdge Corporation and Chairman of the Board for
NewsPage.com, Inc. "Our NewsPage.com business can now be managed as a
true Internet company."
New Service
NewsPage.com also unveiled a totally free version of its service
in conjunction with the subsidiary announcement. Prior to this, users
going to NewsPage had limited free news and information and paid a
subscription fee for access to personalized daily news briefings and
expanded news and information services. With today's announcement,
NewsPage.com becomes totally free to its users, who now receive double
the number of news sources categorized and edited into 1,400 topics
for easy access to detailed industry news and analysis, a free
personalized daily email news briefing, and a simplified
personalization process.
"As part of launching NewsPage.com as a separate subsidiary,
we've changed the NewsPage.com service to better address the needs of
our users and the realities of running a 'dot com' business," said
Ilene H. Lang, President and CEO of NewsPage.com, Inc. "NewsPage.com
is the only service on the Web today that can deliver a totally
personalized news experience tailored to the unique needs and
interests of the individual. And now our users can get the benefit of
this unique service totally free!"
Current NewsPage.com subscription-based customers are being
transitioned to either the new NewsPage.com free service or to premium
subscription-based services in the NewsEdge Enterprise business,
including NewsPage Professional or NewsPage for WorkGroups.
New Team
NewsPage today also announced the appointment of Kathleen
Greenler to the post of Vice President of Marketing and Abe Hirsch to
the post of Vice President of Business Development. Greenler and
Hirsch will join John Zahner, Vice President, Publisher and founder,
as part of Lang's newly formed executive team to spearhead
NewsPage.com's aggressive growth program.
"The NewsPage.com executive team includes individuals who each
have a history of thinking out-of-the box and defining new categories,
products, and services and then making them a market success," said
Lang. "They are Internet pioneers who have driven Internet and media
businesses into industry leaders. They are experts in creating and
monetizing great user experiences, as our NewsPage.com results are
planned to show."
Kathleen Greenler -- Vice President, Marketing
Kathy Greenler joins NewsPage.com as Vice President of Marketing,
bringing over fifteen years of experience in Internet marketing and
publishing, broadcasting, and communications to the team. Most
recently, Greenler was Vice President of Marketing for Essential.com,
an early stage e-commerce company, where she drove the marketing
strategy and, as part of the executive team, secured the company's
early financing.
Prior to Essential.com, Greenler was Director of Marketing for
AltaVista, under both Compaq and Digital Equipment Corporation. During
her tenure, AltaVista was one of the strongest brands on the Web and a
top-tier portal with the highest growth in month-to-month page views
and unique users of all search engine and directory sites. Prior to
AltaVista, Greenler led the design and execution of Boston
Technology's International marketing and communications programs. She
was Principal of Greenler Communications, a consulting firm providing
broadcast, video publishing and marketing programs for corporate and
broadcast clients. Greenler is an experienced television producer and
a certified broadcast engineer; she received a national fellowship
from the Gannett Foundation and is also an award-winning photographer
and musician. She holds a BA in Communications from Boston College.
Abraham Hirsch -- Vice President, Business Development
Abe Hirsch joins NewsPage.com as Vice President of Business
Development, bringing over twenty years of experience in business
development, strategic and global marketing, and online media to the
team. Most recently Hirsch was Vice President of Market and Business
Development for Essential.com, Inc., an early stage e-commerce
company, where he developed initial business partnership opportunities
and, as part of the executive team, successfully secured the company's
early financing.
Prior to Essential.com, Hirsch was Director of Business
Development at Compaq's (and formerly Digital Equipment Corporation's)
AltaVista where he formed the key content, distribution, and
e-commerce partnerships that rocketed AltaVista from a web experiment
into one of the Web's top-tier portals. Hirsch has also held senior
business development positions at Applix, Inc., Pioneer Global
Telecommunications, and I-Kinetics, Inc. He was Director of Product
Marketing for Symbolics, Inc. and Manager of Product Marketing at Data
General. He received a Master of Engineering degree and a BS in
Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
John Zahner -- Vice President, Publisher and Founder
John Zahner is NewsPage.com, Inc.'s Publisher, having led
NewsPage.com since the forming of NewsEdge in February 1998 from the
merger of Desktop Data, Individual Inc., and ADP/ISS. A seasoned media
veteran, Zahner founded the NewsPage.com service in early 1995 while
still at Individual. Zahner was a founder of Individual, where he
created the advertising sales team and many of the company's key early
Internet partnerships, including Microsoft, Netscape, Netcom,
Infoseek, Yahoo, Lotus, MCI, AT&T, and Dow Jones. Throughout his
tenure at Individual and NewsEdge, Zahner has held executive positions
in Sales, Marketing, and Business Development.
Prior to Individual, Zahner founded Walking Magazine at Raben
Publishing, and, as president of his own publishing company, Zahner
Publishing, Inc., he published Cross Country Skier, Water Ski, and
Adirondack Life, all sold to Rodale Press. Earlier in his career he
was with Ziff Davis Publishing Co., which he joined upon their
acquisition of his family's Fly Fisherman title. Zahner sits on the
Advisory Board of The Industry Standard and is a member of the Board
of Directors of Harpell Martins Advertising.
About NewsPage.com
NewsPage.com is the leader is delivering personalized news and
information to business people on the Web. Unlike other alternatives,
NewsPage.com offers the Web's largest collection of business,
financial, industry, trade and company specific news and information
uniquely personalized to deliver better targeted, better customized
and more relevant news and information to the individual business
professional. Visit the site and sign up for your free personalized
news service at newspage.com. NewsPage.com is a wholly
owned subsidiary of NewsEdge Corporation.
About NewsEdge Corporation
NewsEdge Corporation (Nasdaq:NEWZ) is the independent leader in
global news and current awareness solutions for business. The
Company's mission is to make news valuable for business by helping
people find the most important, relevant stories from an overwhelming
volume of daily news and enabling them to act on the most current
information possible. Wholly-owned subsidiary NewsPage.com, Inc. -
newspage.com - is the leader is delivering personalized
news and information to business people on the Web. NewsEdge's
Enterprise business serves approximately 1,325 organizations including
81 of Business Week's 100 largest global companies with award-winning
news and information solutions including NewsEdge Insight(TM),
NewsEdge Live(TM) and NewsEdge Review(TM) topics. NewsEdge is
headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts with sales offices and
distributors throughout North America, South America, Europe, Japan
and the Middle East. For more information about NewsEdge Corporation,
visit the company's Web site at newsedge.com.
(c) NewsEdge Corporation, 1998, all rights reserved. NewsEdge is
a registered trademark of NewsEdge Corporation. All other product or
service marks mentioned herein are those of NewsEdge or their
respective owners.
The foregoing information regarding NewsPage.com results is
preliminary and forward looking. Actual results could differ
materially as a result of a variety of factors, including, risks
associated with acquisitions, the timely development and acceptance of
new products, competitive developments, the success of relationships
with third parties, and other risk factors described from time to time
in the Company's SEC reports. |
