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Subj: ZSUN Press Release March 26, 1999
ZiaSun Takes CMGI Strategy To The Next Level And Adds New Asian Web Portal To Holdings
SAN DIEGO, CA - March 26, 1999. ZiaSun Technologies Inc. (OTC BB:ZSUN)(http://www.ziasun.com) announced on March 24 that it will launch an Asian oriented e-commerce portal called "Asia4Sale'' (http://www.asia4sale.com), based in Hong Kong.
ZiaSun Technologies has acquired a diversified portfolio of established Internet companies which are profitable and have excellent growth potential. ZiaSun is expanding on CMGI's (Nasdaq:CMGI - news) strategy in building, investing in and acquiring leading edge Internet service companies while enhancing the highly business successful model through cross marketing. ZiaSun is different from CMGI in that all of its Internet products and services are synergistic and designed to cross market each other, as well as make money on their own.
Anthony L. Tobin, president and chief executive officer of ZiaSun said, "The project is currently in an advanced stage of development. We have teams of programmers working on this in Hong Kong and Manila. A major marketing drive is also being planned from our regional headquarters in Hong Kong.''
Asia4Sale will be a three-part e-commerce facility catering to the global market offering Home Shopping, Industrial Auctions and Business Barter.
Home Shopping -- "ShoppingAsia,'' will allow online shoppers anywhere in the world to order goods direct from manufacturers in Asia, and have these purchases delivered direct to their door.
Auctions -- "AuctionAsia,'' whereby businesses, dealers or individuals all over the world will be able to buy or sell heavy equipment, vehicles, machinery, stock lots, etc., in the Asian region, through the company's online auctions. "It is much like an industrial eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY - news), but we will be performing more like a traditional auctioneer, by taking legal possession of the goods and collecting payments. This will avoid the sort of legal problems experienced by other online auction services when sellers have failed to deliver goods to the buyers,'' said Tobin.
Barter -- ZiaSun's Asia4Sale portal will be greatly enhanced by its recent acquisition of Pacific Barter Ltd. (www.pacificbarter.com), an Asia-based operation specializing in business-to-business barter transactions, the third principal element of the e-commerce hub, "BarterAsia.'' Pacific Barter's exchange system allows its member clients to trade without the use of cash. The company acts as a third party clearing house for transactions between members, and takes its revenues from commissions. Tobin said that ZiaSun's expertise would be used to expand Pacific Barter, particularly on the Internet. The barter operations would be integrated into the Asia4Sale project, he added.
ZiaSun has invested heavily in its strategy to become a highly branded Asian Web Portal similar to Go2Net in the United States. ZiaSun.com is an Internet portal or gateway to the Internet, such as Excite (Nasdaq:XCIT - news), Lycos (Nasdaq:LCOS - news), Go2Net (Nasdaq:GNET - news), and Infoseek (Nasdaq:SEEK - news), that provides many services and features for its visitors. Because the Internet is growing so rapidly, specialized or niche portals are being developed as the hubs or gateways to the Internet for groups of individuals with specific interests.
ZiaSun Technologies is a provider of Internet products and services and Internet-focused support services. ZiaSun's primary Internet services include: swiftrade.com, mfinance.com, pinmail.com, mediahits.com, and searchdragon.com.
ZiaSun's statement comes hot on the heels of a joint-venture deal struck just days ago between Microsoft Corp. and Hongkong Telecom, who on March 9 announced plans to develop a high-speed Internet service, providing shopping, movies, news, music and software via home personal computers and televisions. Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Chairman Bill Gates was in Hong Kong, now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, for the announcement, which also coincided with a commitment from the software giant to participate in a HK$13 billion (US$1.66 billion) cyberport being developed by the government.
Market research group International Data Corp. (IDC) were recently quoted as predicting that electronic commerce in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) would reach US$16.5 billion by 2001. The number of Internet users is expected to grow from about five million in 1997 to more than 25 million, according to IDC. The Asia-Pacific market may end up having the largest number of e-commerce customers in the world by the turn of the century, they predict.
Note: Any statements released by ZiaSun Technologies Inc. that are forward-looking are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Editors and investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements invoke risk and uncertainties that may affect the company's business prospects and performance. These include economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors discussed in the statements.
For more information please contact our Investor Relations Department at (800) 773-7317.
SOURCE: ZiaSun Technologies Inc. |
