Creative Multimedia to Distribute Juno Free Internet E-mail on Millions of Billboard CD-ROMs

Business Wire, August 5, 1996

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 5, 1996--Juno, the nation's first free Internet e-mail service, today announced that its software will be bundled with more than two million copies of the Billboard Music Guide CD-ROM, Creative Multimedia's interactive guide to music. In addition to being sold at retail, the Billboard Music Guide is itself bundled with a wide range of computer hardware from major manufacturers. Juno and Creative Multimedia are also exploring further distribution opportunities in connection with Creative Multimedia's other software titles.

"We're excited about putting Creative Multimedia's extensive reach into the consumer marketplace to work for us, and to provide buyers of the Billboard Music Guide with a service they can use every day," said Charles Ardai, President of Juno Online Services, L.P. "Having an e-mail address is increasingly a necessity-but there is no reason that e-mail has to be complicated or costly. Juno has been designed to be exceptionally easy to use, and it is completely free." "A distribution relationship with Juno helps us achieve our goal of adding value and functionality to our interactive CD-ROM titles," said Craig Froude, new business manager for Creative Multimedia. "Most of our CD- ROMs already provide Internet access; Juno's free e-mail feature enables us to offer customers an even more robust product."

Juno, which launched its free Internet e-mail service on April 22, 1996 and has already signed up more than 200,000 members, provides free Internet e-mail to anyone who has access to a personal computer running Microsoft Windows(R) and equipped with a modem. Rather than charging its users, Juno has adopted a strategy of deriving revenues from such sources as selectively targetable advertising, interactive online market research, and optional billable services. Juno was organized and financed by D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. and its affiliates.

Thousands of hours of user testing, including detailed focus group and usage studies, went into the development and refinement of Juno's interface, which was designed to meet the needs of first-time as well as experienced e-mail users. In addition to the basic e-mail functions-sending, receiving, forwarding, printing, and replying to messages, for example-Juno offers a full-function address book, customizable mailing lists, folders for storing mail, and a built-in spell-check feature. In a survey of e-mail software and services conducted recently by PC Computing magazine (April 1996), Juno was named best in its category.

About D. E. Shaw & Co.

D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. is a small (about 330 employees) but highly capitalized (with aggregate equity in excess of $750 million) investment banking group with offices in New York, Boston, London, and Tokyo whose activities focus on various aspects of the intersection between technology and finance. The firm was founded in 1988 by Dr. David E. Shaw, who was formerly a professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University. Dr. Shaw was appointed by President Clinton in 1994 to the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, in which capacity he serves as chairman of the Panel on Educational Technology. Over the past two years, D.E. Shaw & Co. has begun to invest in start-up and early-stage ventures within industries its management believes are likely to be fundamentally transformed by the use of computers.

To request a free copy of the Juno software, call 1-800-654- JUNO or send e-mail to "signup@juno.com".

CONTACT: Jennifer Mayer OR AmyConefrey

Juno Online Services, L.P. Rourke &Company

212-478-0800 617-267-0042, Ext. 303

mayer@juno.com aconefrey@juno.com