EUNI --- Pretty big news
Monday June 14, 8:48 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: eUniverse, Inc.
eUniverse to Acquire BigNetwork.com, A Premier Online Entertainment Hub
eUniverse Has Signed a Binding Letter of Intent to Acquire BigNetwork.com for $17.1 Million Dollars, Adding Proprietary Interactive Entertainment, Community, and Commerce Technology to the eUniverse Network
WALLINGFORD, Conn., June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- eUniverse (OTC Bulletin Board: EUNI - news), a network of entertainment focused commerce, community, and technology driven Web sites (http://www.euniverse.com), today announced that a binding letter of intent has been signed to acquire the Big Network, Inc. (http://www.bignetwork.com). Big Network, online since June 1998, has produced a suite of tools that provide an engaging environment for commerce, community, and entertainment. eUniverse will issue 1.8 million shares of common stock for the acquisition. Based on eUniverse's closing price on Friday, the acquisition would be valued at $17.1 million dollars.
BigNetwork.com is an online entertainment and community hub with over 200,000 registered members that generates over four million advertising impressions per month. BigNetwork.com features Java multi-player Classic Games, including spades, backgammon, checkers, and chess. In addition, BigNetwork.com reaches almost 20% of the Internet market through licensing and distribution agreements. Big Network also owns and hosts Play4Prizes.com, a suite of interactive online game shows where users can compete for cash and prizes.
Big Network has also created LivePlace, a new and proprietary community- building technology that will provide users of eUniverse with a unique environment that will set it apart from any other online community. LivePlace will be deployed for the first time when eUniverse re-launches its network in the near future.
''The acquisition of Big Network adds tremendous strategic value for eUniverse.'' Explained eUniverse Chairman Brad D. Greenspan, ''Big Network adds several important dimensions to eUniverse. First, we now own an incredible core interactive entertainment suite of products already widely used on the Internet and a popular entertainment hub. Second, through the acquisition of the 'LivePlace' technology, we will be able to provide a community and shopping experience throughout the eUniverse network that will be unparalleled and entirely new. Last but not least, the eUniverse team will bolster its senior management ranks with the addition of two incredibly talented individuals, Steve Sellers and John Hanke.''
Upon the closing of the acquisition, which is expected within 45 days, Steve Sellers will become eUniverse's Vice President of Business Affairs and John Hanke will become eUniverse's Vice President of Marketing and Community Architecture.
Steve Sellers, CEO of Big Network, was the Cofounder and CEO of Archetype Interactive, which created Meridian 59, the first graphical Internet multi- player game. After the company's acquisition by The 3DO Company, he worked as Director of Internet Business Development. He holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from Stanford University.
John Hanke, President/COO of Big Network, has extensive experience in the design and development of Internet projects. He was the product manager and producer for Meridian 59 at Archetype Interactive and served as Director of Internet Marketing at 3DO. He holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from the University of Texas, Austin.
''We're very excited about joining eUniverse,'' said Steve Sellers, Big Network CEO. The company has done a terrific job of assembling an excellent set of commerce and entertainment sites, and we see a natural fit with our products and technology. We're looking forward to offering our games immediately to Case's gaming community and integrating them with its ladder and tournament system. We also see an unprecedented opportunity to deploy our core technology to create an entirely unique online community. eUniverse has collected the pieces, and we're ready to provide the glue to put them together.
About eUniverse, Inc. (http://www.euniverse.com)
eUniverse, Inc., is a network of entertainment focused commerce, community, and technology driven Web sites.
Through its online commerce properties, CD Universe (http://www.cduniverse.com) Video Universe (http://www.videouniverse.com), eUniverse has over 300,000 customers and was recently rated by Bizrate, and independent commerce ranking service, the 3rd best online shopping site for customer service out of 500 online merchants.
eUniverse's recently acquired interactive entertainment communities include, Cases Ladder (http://www.casesladder.com), which has approximately 1.1 million registered user and over 35 million page views per month and Gamers Alliance (http://www.gagames.com) one of the largest networks of gaming related sites on the Internet, with over 800,000 unique monthly visitors and over 10 million banner impressions per month.
Safe Harbor Statement
Investors should carefully consider the preceding information as well as other information contained in this press release before making an investment in the Common Stock. Information contained in this press release contains ''forward-looking statements'' which can be identified by the use of forward- looking terminology such as ''believes,'' ''expects,'' may,'' ''should,'' or ''anticipates: or the negative thereof or given that the future results covered by such forward-looking statements will be achieved. The preceding matters constitute cautionary statements identifying important factors with respect to such forward-looking statements, including certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from the future results covered in such forward-looking statements. Other factors could also cause actual results to vary materially from the future results covered in such forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: eUniverse, Inc.
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