Times Mirror Completes Acquisition of Minority Investment in Alternate Marketing Networks

Business Wire, Sept 14, 1999

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

Alternate Marketing Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ Small Cap: ALTM) announced today that the Times Mirror Company has completed its minority investment in the Company announced last month.

Times Mirror acquired 350,000 new shares of common stock issued by Alternate Marketing Networks. In addition, Times Mirror acquired approximately 340,000 shares from Edelson Technology Partners II made available due to a maturing of the fund.

The total investment position from these two transactions represents approximately 16 percent of Alternate Marketing Networks' outstanding common stock.

As part of the transaction, Times Mirror will gain two seats on the Company's Board of Directors, which has been expanded from four to five directors. The new seat will go to Times Mirror, which also will gain the seat held by Harry Edelson, who tendered his resignation.

"We greatly appreciate the role Harry Edelson played as a Director and an investor over the past three years. This has been a crucial period for the company as we made the transition from an operations focus to a sales and marketing focus," said Phillip D. Miller, chairman and chief executive officer for Alternate Marketing Networks.

Miller said the investment by Times Mirror ensures that Alternate Marketing Networks can continue its internal growth and investment in proprietary systems and he expects the agreement to generate meaningful new business opportunities for both companies.

The Times Mirror investment is the most recent in a series of significant announcements made by Alternate Marketing Networks. On August 10, the Company reported its second straight quarter of growth, with a 66 percent increase in revenues over the previous year and a gross profit of 23.4 percent. During the second quarter, the Company announced that the Kellogg Company had selected Alternate Marketing Networks as Kellogg's preferred vendor for all in-home sampling campaigns. In addition, the Company announced that 20-year media veteran Celeste Lavezzari had joined its executive team as Vice President, Media Director to oversee newspaper sampling and the expansion and creation of new network opportunities. The Company also announced significant enhancements to its Internet-based End-To-End(TM) tracking system, which provides clients with up-to-the-minute status of sampling campaigns via the Internet.

About Times Mirror

Times Mirror (NYSE:TMC) (PCX:TMC), a Los Angeles-based news and information company, publishes The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, The Morning Call, The (Standford) Advocate and Greenwich Time; a wide array of professional information for the aviation, training and health improvement markets; and consumer magazines.

About Alternate Marketing Networks

Alternate Marketing Networks is a national marketing services Company focusing on targeted consumer product sampling, suburban newspaper advertising and delivery of phone directories. The Company provides these unique services by utilizing its proprietary national database, the Media Optimizer(TM), its verification system, its Internet-based End-To-End(TM) tracking system and its Direct Delivery capabilities.

Some of the statements included in this news release are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created by that statute. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in Alternate Marketing Networks' filings with the Securities Exchange Commission, which are publicly available. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Neither Times Mirror nor Alternate Marketing Networks undertakes to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.