Sunday March 21, 11:20 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Lernout & Hauspie Announces That
Microsoft Exercises Warrants to
Purchase Additional Shares of
Lernout & Hauspie Common Stock
IEPER, BELGIUM and BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 1999--
Microsoft to Invest an Additional $15 Million in Lernout &
Hauspie; Companies Continue Joint Efforts in Speech and Language
Technology Development
Lernout & Hauspie (NASDAQ; LHSPF; EASDAQ; LHSP) (L&H(TM)), a worldwide market
leader in speech and linguistic technologies, products and services, today announced that Microsoft
has elected to exercise its warrants to purchase an additional 857,142 shares of L&H Common
Stock at an exercise price of $17.50 per share, for a total exercise price of approximately $15.0
million. This purchase will increase Microsoft's investment in L&H to approximately 3.75 million
shares, or approximately 7% of L&H outstanding Common Stock. These warrants were issued to
Microsoft in connection with Microsoft's $45.0 million investment in L&H in September 1997.
L&H has further announced that Microsoft has exercised its rights to register its shares of L&H
Common Stock under its September 1997 purchase agreement.
''The market for speech-enabled technologies and products has grown steadily since we began our
relationship with L&H 18 months ago,'' said Bernard Vergnes, Chairman of Microsoft Europe and a
member of L&H's Board of Directors. ''We are excited to be at the forefront of research and
development efforts that help address that market opportunity. To that end, we intend to remain a
long-term investor in L&H and look forward to our continuing relationship with them.''
''Microsoft's additional investment in L&H provides us with an opportunity to strengthen our
relationship with them and continue the type of groundbreaking speech and language technology
development work we have jointly accomplished thus far,'' said Gaston Bastiaens, president and
CEO of L&H.
Productive Partnership
Throughout their alliance, Microsoft and L&H have participated in a number of co-marketing
initiatives aimed at educating the market regarding the benefits and applications for speech
technology. Most recently L&H was highlighted as an official Microsoft Office partner, was featured
on Microsoft's Web site, and demonstrated its technology with the Microsoft Windows 98 operating
system during the previous year's tradeshows and conferences. During the past year L&H was also
a Windows 98 launch partner and its award-winning L&H Voice Xpress(TM) dictation software
was a featured product in the launch.
The companies have also collaborated regarding SAPI feature requirements and are working
together to establish SAPI as an industry speech standard. Microsoft has licensed the SAPI SDK to
L&H, giving L&H full rights to use in embedded technologies. L&H speech engines are all expected
to support SAPI standards.
During the next several months, L&H medical dictation products and Microsoft products will be
jointly featured in a medical seminar road show, similar to the highly successful road show that the
two companies completed in May and June of 1998. Last year's road show covered 15 cities,
highlighting L&H's Clinical Reporter and Voice Xpress for Medicine software and Microsoft's SQL
Server. Several hundred end users, VARs and OEMs attended the 1998 seminar series, which was
followed by L&H's participation in the Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (HUG) conference held
October 12, 1998 and subsequent Microsoft case study featuring L&H's medical applications.
Technology Licensing
Microsoft has licensed a number of L&H's core technologies for use in its own solutions. L&H's
ASR200 and TTS3000, speech recognition and text-to-speech engines have been licensed for use
on the desktop and in Windows CE based platforms. Microsoft has also licensed L&H's ASR200
and TTS3000 engines in multiple languages for use in the Auto PC, an in-dash information and
entertainment system for audiophiles and business professionals on the go.
About Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) is a global leader in advanced speech and language solutions for vertical
markets, computers, automobiles, telecommunications, embedded products, consumer goods and
the Internet. The company is making the speech user interface (SUI) the keystone of simple,
convenient interaction between humans and technology, and is using advanced translation technology
to break down language barriers. L&H's products and services originate in four basic areas:
automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), digital speech and music compression
(SMC) and text-to-text (translation). For more information, please visit Lernout & Hauspie on the
World Wide Web at www.lhs.com or www.lhsl.com.
This news release contains forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainties,
including statement about L&H's plans objectives, expectations and intentions. Readers are
cautioned that such forward-looking statements are subject to material and adverse change and
involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks associated with rapid technological
change, product development and introduction and competition. The statements contained herein
speak only as of the date of this release. L&H expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to
release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in L&H's
expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement in
based.
L&H, Voice Xpress, ASR200 and TTS3000 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft and
Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States and/or other countries.
Contact:
Worldwide PR/IR:
Lernout & Hauspie
Ellen Spooren, 781/203-5344
espooren@lhs.com
or
Media Contact. US:
Lernout & Hauspie
Audrey Pobre, 781/203-5341
apobre@lhs.com
or
Media Contact Europe:
Lernout & Hauspie
Vanessa Richter, (32) 57-22-9518
vrichter@lhs.com
or
Investor Contact Europe:
Lommaert & Blondeel Consultants
Annemieke Blondeel, (44) 1322-520-180
a.blondeel@dial.pipex.com
More Quotes and News:
LHSPF - news
Related News Categories: computers
Help
Copyright © 1999 Business Wire. All rights reserved. All the news releases provided by Business Wire are
copyrighted. Any forms of copying other than an individual user's personal reference without express written
permission is prohibited. Further distribution of these materials is strictly forbidden, including but not limited to,
posting, emailing, faxing, archiving ina public database, redistributing via a computer network or in a printed form.
See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information.
Questions or Comments?
|
