Audio Book Club Inc. to Offer Club Members First Usa Visa E.Card; Customers Able to Receive 5% Cash Back On Purchases Made At Audiobookclub.com

Business Wire, Feb 17, 1999

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 1999--Audio Book Club Inc. (AMEX:KLB) announced today that it has signed an agreement with First USA, a subsidiary of Bank One (NYSE:ONE), to offer its members the VISA e.Card, featuring a 3.9% Introductory APR for 5 months, no annual fee, free balance transfers and credit lines up to $100,000.

The E.Card Platinum Visa offers Audio Book Club members all the convenience, value and benefits of a traditional First USA Platinum Visa credit card, while receiving 5% cash back for all purchases made at Audio Book Club's Web site, www.audiobookclub.com, as well as other premier online merchants including Amazon.com, e Toys, Flowers USA, and Dean & Deluca.

As part of the agreement, www.audiobookclub.com will feature a direct link to the First USA Web site, www.firstusa.com, where members can apply for the card via the Internet. Audio Book Club will also be promoted as a participating merchant on the First USA site.

Commenting on the agreement, Norton Herrick, chairman and chief executive officer of Audio Book Club Inc., stated, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer our club members the First USA e.card, the first credit card specifically created to enhance the online shopping experience. In addition to offering customers a low interest rate and zero annual fee, the card allows users to receive an additional 5% savings on our already low prices.

"This alliance with First USA is an example of our ability to leverage our position as the premier audio content provider on the Internet, by providing additional products and services to our members and to visitors of our site. In addition, we believe that the 5% discount provided by First USA will encourage our members to use our Web site more frequently for conducting club business and purchasing audiobooks."

First USA is a subsidiary of Bank One Corp. (NYSE:ONE), the nation's fifth-largest banking company with assets of more than $260 billion and is one of the nation's largest credit card lenders.

Audio Book Club Inc. is a marketer of audiobooks through membership clubs which market and sell audiobooks via the Internet at www.audiobookclub.com and www.BooksAloud.com, and by mail order. Audio Book Club Inc. is also a publisher of audio and video content including classic radio and video programs and markets and sells that content on audio cassettes, CDs and video cassettes via numerous distribution channels including the Internet, catalogues, radio shows, retail and other outlets. Since commencing operations in January 1994, Audio Book Club Inc. has engaged in an aggressive membership recruitment program to establish a core Audio Book Club member base. Audio Book Club Inc. currently has a combined membership and audio buyer database of over 1,300,000 names.

Safe Harbor Statement Under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements which are not historical facts contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the ability of the company to successfully integrate the newly acquired businesses into its operations and the uncertainty regarding the actual effect of the acquisitions on the company, risks relating to the company's direct mail campaigns and its ability to retain members to its book club, risks relating to the company's growth strategy, dependence on third party service providers, uncertainty of the scope of future product returns, collection and risks associated with selling products on credit, competition and other risks detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The words "believe" and "should" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statement was made.