(PR NEWSWIRE) FreeMarkets Announces Online Asset Marketplace
FreeMarkets Announces Online Asset Marketplace
Company Leverages World-Class Auction Technology and Industrial Market Making
Expertise to Create Markets for Surplus Assets
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- FreeMarkets, Inc. (Nasdaq: FMKT), the
world's leading online auction marketplace, today announced its online asset
marketplace. Using the industry-leading online auction technology, technical
operations and market making services that enable it to save industrial buyers
money, FreeMarkets is creating online markets that offer sellers a greater
return on surplus assets.
"Corporate purchasing departments manage the sale of used assets as well
as the sourcing of goods and services," said FreeMarkets Chairman and CEO Glen
Meakem. "So we're leveraging our success in creating downward price auctions
for buyers of direct materials and services to create upward price auctions
for sellers of surplus assets. This is an important network effect and a
natural extension of our business."
FreeMarkets applies the same rigor and expertise to creating online
markets for sellers of surplus assets that it does to creating markets for
buyers of direct materials and services. Sellers who use the FreeMarkets
online asset marketplace receive value-added services including deep knowledge
of industrial supply markets, technical support and access to a network of
surplus buyers.
In addition to custom online auctions for high-value surplus assets
powered by FreeMarkets' industry-leading BidWare(R) technology, the
FreeMarkets online asset marketplace features a 24/7 Asset Exchange where
buyers and sellers can post, bid and purchase surplus assets in a self-service
atmosphere any time of the day or night.
The market for excess inventory and assets is estimated by industry
analysts to be worth nearly $300 billion. To date, FreeMarkets has sold
approximately $26 million worth of excess equipment and inventory through its
online asset marketplace and generated premiums of approximately $10 million
over the asking prices sellers had set. In one recent auction, FreeMarkets
lined up 14 bidders and helped a Fortune 50 steel manufacturer sell
12 locomotives for $2.5 million, an 11% premium over their asking price.
Among the assets sold through the FreeMarkets asset marketplace: stamping
presses, robots, scrap copper, grinders, locomotives, press brakes,
pipelayers, excavators, dozers, aerospace parts and photographic equipment.
"Network effects have drawn us into the online asset recovery space, and
the volume we have transacted to date already makes us the leader," Meakem
said. "We look forward to leveraging our position to deliver the same cost
and efficiency benefits to sellers of excess equipment that we have been
providing to buyers of direct materials since 1995."
About FreeMarkets
FreeMarkets is the world's leading online auction marketplace for
industrial parts, raw materials, commodities and services. The Company
created online auctions for over $2.7 billion worth of purchase orders in 1999
and nearly $1.0 billion worth of purchase orders in 1998. Since 1995,
FreeMarkets has created online auctions for products in more than 70 supply
verticals, including injection molded plastic parts, commercial machinings,
metal fabrications, chemicals, printed circuit boards, corrugated packaging
and coal. More than 3,000 suppliers from over 45 countries have participated
in FreeMarkets auctions. FreeMarkets provides access to its online auction
marketplace to industrial buyers and suppliers. The FreeMarkets marketplace
includes proprietary online auction technology, technical operations,
industrial market making services, access to a global database of suppliers
and supplier research, call center support to buyers and suppliers in over
30 languages, and marketplace rules. The Company's current clients include
United Technologies Corporation, The Quaker Oats Company, Eaton Corporation,
Emerson Electric Company, Owens Corning, FirstEnergy Corp., SmithKline Beecham
plc, Navistar International and Delphi Automotive Systems Corporation.
FreeMarkets can be found on the Web at www.freemarkets.com. FreeMarkets is a
registered trademark of FreeMarkets, Inc.
Forward looking statements
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including
those statements that refer to FreeMarkets' plans, prospects, expectations,
strategies, intentions, hopes and beliefs, are forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are based on information available to
FreeMarkets today, and FreeMarkets assumes no obligation to update these
statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements, including, without limitation, market acceptance of our online
auction marketplace, the competitive nature of the market for business-to-
business online auction services, FreeMarkets' ability to retain and increase
revenue from existing clients and to execute agreements with new clients, and
FreeMarkets' ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. These and
other risk factors are described in detail in FreeMarkets' prospectus dated
December 9, 1999, which is included as part of its Registration Statement on
Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE FreeMarkets, Inc.
-0- 02/09/2000
/CONTACT: Karen Kovatch of FreeMarkets, 412-297-8767, or
kkovatch@freemarkets.com/
/Web site: freemarkets.com /
(FMKT)
CO: FreeMarkets, Inc.
ST: Pennsylvania
IN: CPR MLM
SU: PDT
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