What can we expect?
CDNOW Attracts Strong Interest Among Potential Merger Partners, Investors
Announcement Expected by June 30
FT. WASHINGTON, Pa., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Following its announcement on March 13 that it was seeking a merger partner or investor, CDNOW (Nasdaq: CDNW - news), the leading online music destination, today announces that the process continues on its planned schedule and the company expects to be able to announce a transaction by June 30.
``CDNOW is the number one music site on the Internet and has attracted a number of interested investors,'' said Jason Olim, President and CEO of CDNOW. ``We are on schedule with our investment process and we expect to announce a deal with a merger partner/investor by the end of this quarter.''
More than two dozen companies initially expressed interest in CDNOW. The company, working with investment bankers Allen and Co. and Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, has identified a short list of prospective investors and merger partners and the CDNOW management team is currently in the process of meeting with each of those parties.
As previously announced, CDNOW has revised its operating plan and is on target to reduce expenses by more than $12 million for the quarter. Despite the scaled-back spending on marketing, for the three months that ended in April, CDNOW averaged 4.7 million unique users per month, an increase of 6.3 percent over the prior three-month period.
Additionally, CDNOW has continued to enhance the site experience for its visitors:
On June 1, CDNOW launched an improved shopping cart that simplifies the process for the customer, and affords CDNOW opportunities to upsell other products and offer advertisers a highly trafficked space.
-- CDNOW Radio, launched on May 30, already is proving popular, and new,
exciting features are planned.
-- WebSessions, featuring today's hottest artists and rising stars, has
been attracting average user sessions of 9 minutes, an increase over
the overall site average of 7.7 minutes. Since its launch in December,
WebSessions has featured Wilco, artists from the Teen People webcast
and Shannon Curfman.
-- On May 10, CDNOW debuted video and audio broadband interviews on The
CDNOW Interview. Each week, music fans can now watch and listen to
some of today's hottest artists, including AC/DC, Britney Spears and
Paul McCartney, talk about their music, their lives and other current
topics. The latest addition is an exclusive audio interview with
Eminem.
-- Co-promotions are also playing a key role in the current content mix.
The 7 UP Custom CD promotion, Man in the Moon DVD promotion and
sweepstakes, and Sears.com-sponsored Father's Day Custom Shop were all
launched in the past 10 days.
CDNOW - Never miss a beat.(TM)
CDNOW, Inc., is the leading online music destination that offers the most comprehensive, personalized connection to the world of music. CDNOW's offerings consist of more than 500,000 music and entertainment-related items, including CDs, music downloads, cassettes, vinyl albums and Custom CDs, as well as music samples and intelligent album recommendations. CDNOW Media, the Company's newly formed interactive division, develops CDNOW's interactive content, including allstar(TM) News, artist interviews and reviews, and the Company's webcasting and entertainment initiatives. CDNOW's Video Shop includes an immense selection of movies in VHS, DVD and Laserdisc. Visitors can search the Video Shop by Advance Orders, New Releases, Best Sellers and more. CDNOW movie reviews, as well as actor/actress information, film ratings, reviews, and run times from the All Movie Guide, are available.
SOURCE: CDNOW |
