| BW0599
FEB 28,2001 15:05 PACIFIC 18:05 EASTERN (
BW)(CA-ELECTRONIC-ARTS)(ERTS) EA.com Acquires Leading Games Destination
pogo.com; pogo.com’s
Popular Family Games Site Complements EA.com’s Rich Content Games Business
Editors/Entertainment Writers REDWOOD
CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 28, 2001–EA.com, a subsidiary of
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) today announced the acquisition of pogo.com
Inc., the leading online family games service with nearly 17 million
registered members. Because of the high number of hours that fans spend on the
site each month, several leading research firms have named pogo.com the
stickiest site on the web in 2000. Financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed. pogo.com
is the leading provider of popular Internet-based family games, including
card, board, word, puzzle, trivia, sports, classic arcade, and no-risk casino
games. Some of pogo.com’s most popular games include Poppit, a puzzle game
that offers the chance to win a progressive jackpot and Buckaroo Blackjack, a
card game with a western theme. pogo.com’s Video Poker games combined to
generate nearly four million hours of usage in January 2001 and have attracted
major consumer advertisers such as Taco Bell, Pepsi and Nissan. "pogo.com
is a great fit with EA.com," said John Riccitiello, general manager of
EA.com and president of Electronic Arts. "We like the business model, the
revenue stream and their unique relationship with a key demographic — women
and families. The high traffic and stickiness of pogo games will complement
EA.com’s development of rich content offerings such as Majestic, Harry Potter
and ‘The Sims Online.’ We think this combination places us firmly in a
leadership position." Erick
Hachenburg, president and chief executive officer of pogo.com, will maintain
leadership of the pogo.com site. "We are excited to join the EA team and
to bring pogo’s broadly appealing content to EA.com," said Hachenburg.
"The potential reach of EA.com is staggering, particularly given its
exclusive games provider status with AOL/Time Warner. Consumers of all ages,
genders and backgrounds will be able to find an online entertainment
experience that appeals to them on this site." The
addition of pogo.com content will significantly increase EA.com’s appeal to
the broad consumer market, particularly women and people over 35. pogo.com’s
strength in free, familiar games coupled with EA.com’s rich-content
experiences will drive traffic and advertising revenue for EA’s site. About
Electronic Arts Electronic
Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), headquartered in Redwood City, is the world’s leading
interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts
(EA) posted revenues of more than $1.4 billion for fiscal 2000. The company
develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for the Internet,
personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its
products under three brand names: EA SPORTS(TM) EA GAMES(TM) and EA.COM(SM).
More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be
found on the Internet at http://www.ea.com. About
EA.com EA.com,
which went live in October of 2000, is headquartered in Redwood City and is a
business division of Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), the world’s largest
interactive entertainment software company. Under an agreement with America
Online, Inc. (AOL), the world’s leading interactive services company, EA.com
provides exclusive games programming for the AOL(R) Games channel, AOL.COM,
Netscape.com, ICQ, CompuServe, in addition to the EA.com home site. The
relationship between EA.com and AOL has created a leading online gaming
community and provides several services, including the ability to download and
play games, find online opponents, obtain game related information and join
chat rooms to discuss games. About
pogo.com pogo.com,
headquartered in San Francisco, is the leading provider of free online games
and features more than 40 games in eight categories (card, word, risk-free
casino, puzzle, board, trivia, sports and arcade games). The pogo.com network
has nearly 17 million registered members — and nearly a million new members
join every month. pogo.com was named the "stickiest" site of 2000 by
the leading research firms in the industry. More information about pogo.com
can be found at http://www.pogo.com. Note
to Editors: Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, EA GAMES, Majestic and The Sims are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or
other countries. EA.COM is a service mark of EA.com Inc. AOL is a registered
trademark of America Online, Inc. pogo.com is the leading Internet provider of
family games for everyone in the broad consumer market. A popular service for
consumers of all ages and backgrounds, pogo.com offers free online card,
board, word, puzzle, trivia, classic arcade and no-risk casino games. pogo.com
has distribution relationships with many of the Web’s most popular
destinations including Excite, GO, iVillage, iWon, and NBCi. pogo.com received
its initial funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, with subsequent
investors including Ameritech; Invesco Private Capital; Liberty Digital; Nokia
Ventures; Vertex Management; and Wasserstein Adelson Ventures. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT:
C.H.E.N. PR (for EA.COM) Shelly
Eckenroth, 650/357-8749 seckenroth@chenpr.com |