MessageMedia Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Decisive Technology
Acquisition Adds to MessageMedia's e-Survey Capabilities and Strengthens Company's Service Offering
BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 29, 1999--MessageMedia Inc. (Nasdaq: MESG), a leading provider of e-mail-based customer relationship management and direct marketing services, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Decisive Technology of Mountain View, Calif., a leading provider of e-survey services to some of the world's largest technology and Internet companies. The transaction will be accounted for as a purchase and the number of shares to be issued will be determined by a formula involving the average price of MessageMedia common stock during a period prior to the closing of the transaction. Based on the closing sales price of the company's common stock on Wednesday, the company will issue approximately 2.53 million shares of MessageMedia common stock for 100 percent of the outstanding interests in Decisive Technology, and the approximate value of the consideration would be $50 million. Closing is subject to certain conditions, including approval of Decisive Technology's shareholders, and is expected to take place in August 1999.
Decisive Technology's value-added services continuously monitor and analyze customers' perceptions to improve business performance and build customer loyalty. Decisive's extensive customer base includes Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and eBay.
''This strategic acquisition expands MessageMedia's breadth of services and will accelerate our growth as we partner with companies to build their customer relationships online,'' said Larry Jones, president and CEO of MessageMedia. ''In addition, this transaction brings MessageMedia one step closer to realizing our goal of becoming the one-stop-shop for all e-mail related services. Adding Decisive Technology's ability to help customers like Microsoft, AOL and Apple collect and analyze real-time customer feedback can only strengthen our market leadership and enhance the value-proposition we deliver our clients.''
About Decisive Technology
Decisive Technology, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a leading online provider of continuous customer feedback solutions for Internet and e-commerce businesses. Decisive's value-added services continuously monitor and analyze customer perceptions to improve business performance and customer loyalty. Decisive's solutions enable businesses to monitor and analyze the entire e-customer experience. The company's outsourced customer intelligence solutions can be quickly deployed without additional IT investment or inhouse market research expertise.
Decisive's solutions are used by leading technology organizations such as Apple, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intuit, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft and ZD-Events and major e-commerce corporations such as AOL and eBay.
About MessageMedia Inc.
MessageMedia (NASDAQ: MESG) is a leading provider of e-mail-based customer relationship management and direct marketing services. The Company offers a comprehensive suite of outsource messaging services for information delivery, e-commerce services, permission-based direct marketing and ongoing customer communications using industry standard Internet protocols. MessageMedia's customer portfolio includes clients from the financial services, publishing, direct marketing, retailing and electronic commerce industries. Clients include E*TRADE, Reader's Digest, GeoCities, Intuit, CMP Media, Yahoo!, Barclays Bank and Bertelsmann.
SOFTBANK and its affiliates own approximately 49% of the outstanding common stock of MessageMedia Inc. Pequot Capital Management, a Connecticut-based research-intensive investment firm with more than $5 billion in assets under management, is also a major investor in MessageMedia. ''Safe Harbor'' Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, the integration of a new senior management team, MessageMedia's limited operating history, the integration of recent acquisitions, risks associated with pending and future acquisitions, the anticipated fluctuations in operating results, the uncertain acceptance of new services being offered, and undeveloped and rapidly changing market and other factors detailed in MessageMedia's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. All companies and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. MessageMedia undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
MessageMedia Inc.
6060 Spine Road, Boulder, Colo. 80301
Phone: (303) 440-7550; Fax: (303) 440-0303; messagemedia.com
Note to Editors: The asterisk between the ''E'' & ''TRADE'' in the sixth graph may not transmit properly into some systems.
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Contact:
MessageMedia Inc.
Beth Mayfield, 303/381-7500
investor@messagemedia.com
or
Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
Renee Schwager, 312/297-7430
renee_schwager@edelman.com |
