ZiaSun Spins Off and Sells Asia4Sale Subsidiary for $5 Million; Retains 30% Ownership and Provides Management Advisory Services
SOLANA BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 23, 1999--ZiaSun Technologies, Inc (OTC BB:ZSUN), a profitable Internet holding company, today announced that it has sold its wholly-owned Asia4Sale Ltd. (www.Asia4Sale.com) subsidiary for $5,000,000 in cash to a private Asian company.
The Company retains a 30-percent ownership in the new Asia4Sale entity, and will provide access to ZiaSun's management expertise. The principals of the new company have expressed to ZiaSun their intention of publicly trading the new Asia4Sale entity in the near future. Should the principals be successful, the Company's board of directors will consider a stock dividend to its ZSUN shareholders as soon as practical.
ZiaSun stated that Asia4Sale is a fully-developed operating unit with a business model that calls for the subsidiary to achieve profitability in early 2000. The Company explained that the Asia4Sale.com business requires approximately $15 to $20 million in capital to effectively accelerate its product development and geographic expansion. ZiaSun believes that the new owners are positioned to facilitate this rapid growth with the necessary financial resources and strategic industry connections throughout Asia.
"We are excited to announce the sale of Asia4Sale.com at very favorable terms that will add substantial value to our bottom line," said ZiaSun Chairman D. Scott Elder. "Having established and incubated the business during its early stages, by providing funding, marketing and management, we are now positioned to profit from its improved operations, and devote further investments to other start-up and emerging ventures.
"The sale of Asia4Sale is consistent with our business model, which focuses on investing in early stage, niche-market Internet firms that we expect will generate above average returns for ZiaSun and its shareholders," Elder added. "We then look to sell the majority interest to a strategic buyer, thus providing both short- and long-term profits from the investment. Our success using this strategy results from ZiaSun's ability to provide the management expertise and business synergies that yield substantially improved operations."
About Asia4Sale
The Asia4Sale website was launched on September 15, 1999 as a unique e-commerce facility catering to the global market with industrial auctions, business barter, home shopping and the opportunity for anyone to open an Asian-specialized online retail store for free. The portal showcases over 5,000 products from more than 100 Asian manufacturers, with merchandise ranging from electronics and CDs to sporting goods and Chinese arts and crafts, at prices from $25 to $1,000. The site enables shoppers to order direct from the manufacturer with home delivery anywhere in the world.
Asia4Sale also overcomes the major barrier that has held Asian companies back from selling products online - the difficulty of obtaining e-commerce credit card merchant accounts - by processing MasterCard and Visa Card payments in a variety of major currencies. This capability is provided through a secure online credit card payment system, which is operated by the major online credit card system forerunner, First Ecom.
About ZiaSun Technologies
ZiaSun Technologies, Inc. is a leading Internet holding company focused on e-commerce and specialized online support services within North America, Asia and other international markets. The Company's Internet offering includes Asia4Sale (www.asia4sale.com), AuctionAsia (www.auctionasia.net), MEDIAhits (www.mediahits.com), Momentum Asia (www.momentumasia.com), Momentum Finance (www.mfinance.com - a top 100 financial website), Momentum Internet (www.momentumplus.com), Online Investors Advantage (www.i-advantage.com), PINmail (www.pinmail.com), Search Dragon (www.searchdragon.com), ServiceLive (www.servicelive.com) and Swiftrade (www.swiftrade.com).
Note: Any statements released by ZiaSun Technologies, Inc that are forward-looking are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Editors and investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements invoke risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company's business prospects and performance. These include economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors discussed in the statements.
CONTACT:
OTC Financial Network
Geoffrey Eiten, 800-230-3519/781-444-6100 x 13
geiten@otcfn.com
www.otcfn.com/zsun
or
ZiaSun
Mark Harris, 858-350-4060
mark@pinmail.com
www.ziasun.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
BW1015 DEC 23,1999
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