TGLO news...
Monday February 1, 8:47 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
theglobe.com Acquires E-Commerce Pioneer, Azazz.com Online Community Executes E-Commerce Strategy
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 1999--theglobe.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:TGLO - news), the online community which fully integrates professional content, commerce and member interaction, announced today that it has agreed to acquire leading interactive department store, Azazz.com.
Azazz! was recently ranked by BizRate.com as one of the highest rated customer certified department stores on the Web.
The integration of Azazz.com with theglobe's existing e-commerce business will significantly enhance the online community's shopping experience. The acquisition will enable theglobe.com to offer a broad array of products, attractive prices and premium customer service to its millions of monthly users. In particular, theglobe.com's shopping mall will seek to leverage Azazz.com's unique ''personal shopper'' application, which enables customers to communicate directly with a live customer service representative during each step of the online shopping process.
According to the BizRate report, Azazz! along with Wal-Mart Online, Nordstrom, Spiegel and JC Penney scored the highest grades among consumers in 1998. Azazz! was also selected by Amazon.com as one of its premier merchants for the Shop the Web area on the bookseller's site.
''Azazz! is a natural fit with theglobe.com's online community and will provide our users with a rich shopping experience in addition to our brand name content and member interaction'', stated Todd Krizelman, co-CEO,theglobe.com. '' theglobe.com plans to continue to develop or acquire the content and services needed to appeal to the sophisticated shopper, bargain hunter, spontaneous purchaser and active bidder.''
''We are excited to be joining the quality community that theglobe.com represents,'' said Jay McGoodwin, President and CEO of Azazz.com. ''Our proven expertise in the field of online retailing and our personalized shopping solutions complement theglobe.com's ability to target its diverse member base with highly directed product offerings.''
Stephan Paternot, co-CEO, added, '' Through the acquisition of Azazz! and the recent launch of globeDirect, theglobe.com is aggressively offering customers multiple outlets to shop online.'' By providing consumers with the option of shopping in both a personalized, full service department store and a deep discount warehouse, theglobe is uniquely positioned to capture a significant share of its customers' online purchases.''
The acquisition agreement was signed this morning and the transaction will close upon the filing of Articles of Merger, expected at Noon (EST) today. In the transaction, theglobe.com will issue approximately 307,000 shares of new Common Stock to shareholders of factorymall.com, inc., the parent of Azazz.com and will assume all of the outstanding options and warrants of factorymall.com. The stock to be issued by theglobe.com to the holders of outstanding Azazz! shares will be ''restricted'' securities under the Federal securities laws, with certain registration rights. The acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase.
Azazz! will continue to be based in Kirkland, Washington and will be operated by its current management team, which in addition to McGoodwin, includes Mark Tucker, Founder/CTO and Kevin McKeown, EVP/Business Development. The company will be overseen by Dean Daniels, Chief Operating Officer of theglobe.com.
About theglobe.com
theglobe.com is one of the world's leading online communities with over 2 million members and over 7.5 million users in the United States and abroad (as of Q3 1998). theglobe.com is setting the standard for online communities by providing members with a wealth of services and content. The intuitive site is designed to foster a user's creative and interactive experience. Content providers for 10 themes of interest (Art, Business, Entertainment, Life, Metro, News, Romance, Sports, Technology & Travel) include Reuters, E! Online, Thomson Investors Network, SonicNet, UPI & CNet.
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