VerticalNet and Eastman Chemical Company Announce Joint Venture to Establish Internet Marketplace to Serve $64 Billion Paint & Coatings Industry
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HORSHAM, Pa. and KINGSPORT, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
March 16, 2000--
Paint and Coatings.com Inc. Will Become a New Company
VerticalNet, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERT), the Internet's leading portfolio
of business-to-business industrial trading communities, and Eastman
Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), a leading global chemical manufacturer,
announced today that they have entered into a joint venture to create
an independent Internet marketplace for the paint and coatings
industry. The new company is called PaintandCoatings.com Inc. and will
utilize the domain name www.paintandcoatings.com. It will be the first
VerticalNet(R) community of commerce to evolve into a fully
transactional online marketplace, and Eastman will be its first anchor
tenant. VerticalNet and Eastman expect that the new company will
become the paint and coating industry's one-stop neutral marketplace
by forming an array of strategic partnerships with a variety of
leading industry players.
Paint and Coatings.com, initially launched as part of
VerticalNet's portfolio of communities in August 1998, has become one
of the leading web destinations for the industry, with companies from
around the world interacting with 3,600 suppliers on the site.
"By creating an alliance with an industry leader like Eastman, we
can more rapidly accelerate the transformation of this global
industrial market into a robust electronic marketplace," said Mark
Walsh, VerticalNet President and CEO. "Eastman has contacts,
relationships, suppliers and distribution channels that, combined with
VerticalNet's assets of dynamic content, purposeful community, and
transactional tools, can quickly fulfill the requirements of true
end-to-end e-commerce solutions. PaintandCoatings.com brings a fully
functioning community together with an established supply of products
and buyers beginning on day one."
"VerticalNet is the global industry leader in creating vibrant
markets for business-to-business interactions," said Allan Rothwell,
President of Chemicals at Eastman. "We are delighted to partner with
them to accelerate the transformation of this $64 billion industry
into a web-enabled global market. This open and vendor-neutral
community provides a business solution for the entire industry."
Over the next several months, numerous other industry stakeholders
are expected to participate on the site. The refocused marketplace
will serve raw material suppliers, distributors and manufacturers as
well as paint and coating formulators and users. By creating
multivendor catalogs and a rich product offering focused exclusively
to the specific needs of the industry, PaintandCoatings.com is
expected to reduce total costs of procurement and the costs of sales
and marketing for thousands of companies worldwide.
About VerticalNet, Inc.
VerticalNet, Inc. (www.verticalnet.com), owns and operates 55
industry-specific Web sites designed as online business-to-business
communities, known as vertical trade communities. These vertical trade
communities provide users with comprehensive sources of information,
interaction and e-commerce. They are grouped into the following
industry sectors: ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, COMMUNICATIONS,
ENVIRONMENTAL, FOOD AND PACKAGING, FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY,
HEALTHCARE/SCIENCE, MANUFACTURING AND METALS, PROCESS, PUBLIC SECTOR,
SERVICE, TEXTILES AND APPAREL.
Additionally, VerticalNet provides auctions, catalogs, bookstores,
career services and other e-commerce capabilities horizontally across
its communities with sites like Industry Deals.com, IT CareerHub.com,
LabX.com, Professional Store.com. VerticalNet's NECX Exchange provides
an exchange for the electronic components industry.
About Eastman
Headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., Eastman Chemical Company
manufactures and markets more than 400 chemicals, fibers and plastics.
An e-commerce leader within the chemical industry, Eastman employs
approximately 15,000 people in more than 30 countries and had 1999
sales of $4.59 billion.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the expected
participation of other industry stakeholders, the expectation that
PaintandCoatings.com will reduce costs for thousands of companies
worldwide, the belief that the alliance will allow a more rapid
acceleration of the transformation of the global paint and coating
market into an electronic marketplace and information contained
elsewhere in this document where statements are preceded by, followed
by or include the words "believes," "plans," "intends," "expects,"
"anticipates," "would," or similar expressions. For such statements,
VerticalNet claims the protection of the safe harbor for
forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially
from the results predicted, and reported results should not be
considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
included in the forward-looking statements include, among others
(i)dependence on the joint venture partner; (ii)rapid technological
and market change; (iii)failure of the joint venture to generate
demand for its products and services; (iv); intellectual property and
licensing issues. Additional factors that could cause actual results
to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements
include those set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the period ending December 31, 1998 and the Company's Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 1999, both of
which have been filed with the SEC.
VerticalNet is the registered trademark of VerticalNet, Inc. All
other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
CONTACT: VerticalNet, Inc.
Muriel Lange, Director of Investor Relations
215/315-3367
mlange@verticalnet.com
or
Peppercom
Media Contact for VerticalNet, Inc.
Fran Lucivero, 212/931-6129
fluciver@peppercom.com
or
Eastman Chemical Company
Katherine Watkins, Media Relations Representative
423/229-3078
kwatkins@eastman.com
KEYWORD: PENNSYLVANIA TENNESSEE
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTER/ELECTRONICS INTERNET RETAIL E-COMMERCE
SOFTWARE MARKETING AGREEMENTS CHEMICALS/PLASTICS
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