netLibrary Broadens Focus with Move into New Markets; eBooks From 200 Publishers Available to Libraries, Corporations, Schools and Consumers

Business Wire, April 17, 2000

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2000

netLibrary(tm), a leading provider of eBooks and Internet-based content/collection management services, today announced a new management structure aimed at strengthening and growing its offerings in the library market and leveraging its industry leadership for expansion into new markets. In particular, the company seeks to enter markets for corporate libraries, textbooks as well as more consumer-focused markets. Leading this team is President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Kaufman, 37, previously netLibrary's chief financial officer.

"Rob has been highly successful in building netLibrary's financial foundation," said netLibrary Chairman Timothy R. Schiewe. "Furthermore, he has contributed greatly to our organization's growth and the connections we have made with key strategic partners. He is the right person to lead netLibrary into the future."

Kaufman has been noted as the architect of netLibrary's three highly successful rounds of strategic and venture financing, now totaling more than $110 million. Investors include firms and individuals from the publishing, book distribution, interactive media, and venture capital industries.

"Our experience in the library market has allowed us to better understand and appreciate the needs of institutional customers and their patrons, and of publishers," said Kaufman. "netLibrary delivers a complete eBook solution to institutional customers in conjunction with established channel partners, to individuals via the eBook device or software of their choice, and to publishers in the creation, archiving and serving of content to end-users across the entire breadth of the publishing market, including professional, reference, textbook and trade publications."

While meeting the needs of customers in the academic, public and institutional marketplace has been key to netLibrary's success, the foundation of this success is netLibrary's strong relationships with publishers. These efforts, from both a marketing and operational perspective, are being strengthened under Chief Operating Officer Nancy Talmey. With distinct but integrated departments aimed at both title acquisition and publisher relations, netLibrary is redoubling its focus on meeting the needs of publishers with innovative and flexible product offerings.

To approach the corporate marketplace, netLibrary has created a new division consisting of collection development librarians, technologists, and sales and marketing staff. This division will report to Executive Vice President Rich Rosy, who leads netLibrary's effort in all institutional markets. The corporate library product offering today includes specially assembled eBook collections of business and technology titles, and will eventually be combined with other resources such as periodicals, journals, and reference materials geared toward specific industries. Corporate libraries will be able to seamlessly integrate netLibrary's electronic knowledge offerings into their intranet and extranet sites, providing instant access to a large and highly flexible body of information.

In addition to moving into the corporate library marketplace, netLibrary also recently launched a new division to provide eTextbooks and other enhanced learning materials to educators and students at all grade levels. The nascent division, which will report to Chief Marketing Officer David Melancon, will include the personnel and assets gained from netLibrary's recent acquisition of Orlando, Fla.-based MetaText Inc. and is currently running pilot eText programs, with full-product launch expected before the Fall semester.

Moving beyond the educational and institutional marketplaces, netLibrary and its handheld eBook division, peanutpress.com, encountered strong consumer demand during the recent eBook-only release of Stephen King's "Riding the Bullet." During the first day of sales of "Riding the Bullet," netLibrary and peanutpress.com sold 10,000 copies of the eBook. netLibrary is currently working with publishers to offer more eBook specials in the coming months.

To meet this growing demand from publishers, netLibrary has launched a new division to provide a solution for publishers seeking to deliver eBook versions of trade and popular titles to consumers through online channels. The new division will manage the creation and distribution of eBooks for download to computers, eBook reader devices, and personal digital assistants. This effort will also report to Melancon.

Rounding out netLibrary's executive team are: Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Cuccaro, Chief Technology Officer Craig McSavaney, Executive Vice President of Human Resources Tom Deany and General Counsel/Executive Vice President Paul Smith.

"When we started netLibrary 20 months ago, there was a sense of apprehension about eBooks among all but a few early adopting publishers, libraries, and consumers. The picture is quite different now, as publishers have come to regard eBooks as an integral channel for their intellectual property and libraries have started to see them as a basic part of their collection," concluded Schiewe. "As the market has matured, so has netLibrary's management team. We now have seasoned veterans from the publishing, library, marketing, and technology spaces in key executive positions."