|
FROM: FOR:
Swenson NHB Investor Relations Digital River, Inc.
1300 Fifth Street Towers, 150 S. 5th St. 9625 W. 76th St., Suite 150
Minneapolis, Minn. 55402 Eden Prairie, Minn. 55344
Contact - Tom Langenfeld 612-371-0000 Contact - Bob Strawman
612-253-1234
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DIGITAL RIVER, INC., REPORTS
RECORD FIRST-QUARTER SALES
-----------------------------------------------------
MINNEAPOLIS, April 22 -Digital River, Inc., (Nasdaq:DRIV) today reported
a 416-percent increase in first-quarter sales from the first quarter last year,
and 24-percent increase from sales in the fourth quarter of 1998.
Digital River?s sales were $11,707,000 in the quarter ended March 31,
1999, compared with $2,270,000 in the first quarter of 1998 and $9,407,000 in
the fourth quarter. The company?s first-quarter net loss this year was
$6,238,000, or 27 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $1,555,000, or
16 cents per share, in the same period in 1998.
"We continue to be excited by the performance of our core business of
providing electronic commerce outsourcing solutions for the sale of software
and other digital products over the Internet," said Joel Ronning, chief
executive officer. "This business is strong and the market for electronic
software delivery continues to grow. Industry research from Jupiter
Communications projects that online software sales will double in 1999 over
1998."
Perry Steiner, president of Digital River, said, "We processed sales
transactions for 204,000 unique customers in the first quarter, up sharply from
a strong fourth quarter that included the holiday selling season. Our database
of unique customers purchasing through our network increased 57 percent in the
first quarter of this year, giving us a cumulative total database of 566,000
unique consumer purchasers to date."
Ronning said that two acquisitions completed shortly after the close of
the quarter have given Digital River two of the major e-commerce service
providers to the shareware market. "This is a natural extension of our
software business," Ronning said. "With these acquisitions we are making a
strong entry into the shareware market, which is estimated by the Association
of Shareware Professionals to be $400 million annually - and we intend to be a
market leader."
At the same time, Ronning said, the company is moving ahead with its
fee-based e-commerce service initiative aimed at leveraging the company?s
infrastructure by providing e-commerce solutions to non-software companies.
"We have officially named this service Commerce Bridge and anticipate
announcing our first major clients within the next few weeks," Ronning said.
"We are in the early stages of this initiative but expect that it will be a
promising market for Digital River."
Earlier today Digital River also disclosed its entry into providing
outsourced solutions for downloadable music with the announcement of its first
client to use this service, New Orleans-based WWOZ-FM Radio.
"Our technology is designed to manage transactions and the download of all
digital products, and we believe the music business is another promising
market," Ronning said. "As with the software industry, our goal is to become a
leading outsourcing provider of e-commerce services to the music industry.
"Both this initiative and the broader Commerce Bridge initiative are
logical extensions of our core software business. They draw on the power of
the Commerce Network Server technology we have created to provide robust
outsourcing capabilities for Internet-based commerce for the management of
transactions, payments and flow of digital products or data."
Digital River, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRIV), based in Minneapolis, is the largest
online source of software and a leading outsource provider of Web-based
commerce solutions. The company provides more than 5,000 software publishers
and online retailers with its proprietary technology for Internet delivery of
more than 100,000 digital products, including 30,000 software products and
applications. For more information, visit Digital River?s Web site at
digitalriver.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release
contains forward-looking statements, including statements containing the words,
"believes," "anticipates," "expects" and similar words. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company,
or industry results, to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, among others: the Company's limited
operating history and variability of operating results; market acceptance of
electronic software delivery; the Company's ability to maintain relationships
with software publishers and online retailers; competition in the electronic
commerce market; and other risk factors referenced in the Company's public
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
b |
