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HomeSeekers.com, Inc. and BuySellBid.com Sign Agreement Making HomeSeekers.com the Real Estate Vertical Partner for 455 Radio Station Web Sites Nationwide
RENO, Nev. and LONGVIEW, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1999--In a strategic move to bring the best of real estate classified advertising to millions of Web site visitors, HomeSeekers.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:HMSK - news) and privately held BuySellBid.com, announced today that they have signed an agreement whereby HomeSeekers.com will be the exclusive nationwide real estate portal for 455 radio stations of Clear Channel Communications (NYSE:CCU - news).
Stated Gregory L. Costley, Chairman and CEO of HomeSeekers.com: ``Our affiliation with BuySellBid.com is projected to dramatically increase the number of visitors to our site.
``The combined power of capturing our share of the millions of listeners in the Clear Channel network, together with Clear Channel's promotional plan for their radio station Web sites, are key components in our plan of increasing consumer awareness and attracting consumers to our HomeSeekers.com site. We are very excited to bring together our technology and marketing to the BuySellBid.com Internet space.
``Our investment here, together with the investments of Clear Channel, NBC and others, presents a great opportunity to all involved. When added to the relationship that we have with Microsoft's HomeAdvisor, we feel that our branding strategy is very strong. As the brand is strengthened, so is our ability to serve our target markets of real estate consumers and real estate professionals,' he continued.
``We are also excited about Clear Channels announced acquisition of AMFM this week which further solidifies their position as the dominant force in the Radio industry.'
The agreement calls for HomeSeekers to make a $3.0 million equity investment in BuySellBid.com and to purchase $4.0 million in advertising services from BuySellBid (http://www.buysellbid.com), a leading developer of state-of-the-art online multimedia transactions and classified ads. Funding for the deal is comprised of $6MM of HomeSeekers.com common stock and $1MM in cash.
The deal follows the agreement made by BuySellBid and Clear Channel that provides exclusive access to the classified advertising categories of Real Estate, Auto and Employment to BuySellBid and its ClassiFind Network.
Clear Channel is expected to meet certain performance goals, including on-Web promotion for BuySellBid Classifieds on over 70% of the Web pages on each station's Web site, plus $9 million in BuySellBid local on-air promotions, and a minimum of 25 on-air spots per week driving traffic to each station's Web site.
``Thanks to the world class technology and depth of listings of HomeSeekers.com, visitors to Clear Channel's radio station Web sites will be one mouse click away from finding their dream home,' said Jay Shepard, CEO of BuySellBid.com.
``We are looking forward to a long and rewarding future together as we bring the best of the Web to America's premier radio broadcasting network and we welcome HomeSeekers.com to our family of strategic shareholders, which includes NBC and Clear Channel.'
About HomeSeekers.com, Inc.
HomeSeekers.com, Inc. (www.homeseekers.com), a leading provider of on-line residential real estate listing information for use by real estate consumers and professionals, mortgage and title insurance companies and others, is dedicated to delivering Web-related technology to simplify and expedite real estate transactions.
The Company currently has aggregated approximately 800,000 real estate listings on its Web site, which is the largest universe on the Internet of listings that are updated on a daily basis.
About BuySellBid.com, Inc.
BuySellBid.com, Inc. (http://www.BuySellBid.com), founded in 1996 and headquartered in Longview, has fast become an industry leader in Internet commerce solutions by building both advanced proprietary e-commerce systems and an extensive network of Internet sites through exclusive partnerships with more than 1,600 U.S. media Web sites, including equity partner NBC, plus television, radio, cable and magazines.
The Company, through its vast multimedia distribution network, targets specific consumer and commercial segments through its co-branded and flexible services including: BuySellBid.com Classifieds, the largest multimedia classifieds network on the Internet; BuySellBid e-shopping including individual shops and e-malls; and Date Channel (http://www.datechannel.com) an advanced singles system on the Web.
In conjunction with the provisions of the new ``Safe Harbor' section of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, this news release may contain forward-looking statements pertaining to future anticipated projected plans, performance and developments, as well as other statements relating to future operations. All such forward-thinking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results and there can be no assurance that actual results will not materially differ from expectations. Further information on potential factors that could affect HomeSeekers.com, Inc. is included in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
