Road Runner Brings Broadband to The Knot; The Knot Will Be Premier Wedding Content and Gift Registry Provider Across Road Runner Broadband Service

Business Wire, August 16, 2000

Business & Technology Editors

NEW YORK & HERNDON, Virg.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2000

The Knot (NASDAQ: KNOT), the leading online wedding resource, and Road Runner, the nation's pre-eminent broadband service provider, today announced a distribution partnership that makes The Knot the exclusive wedding content provider across Road Runner's broadband applications which reach more than 912,000 customers.

Under the two-year agreement, The Knot (www.theknot.com) will have a premier presence in lifestyle areas across Road Runner's high-speed online cable services. In this first of many broadband initiatives, The Knot will provide Road Runner (www.roadrunner.com) with its suite of interactive wedding planning tools, including The Knot Bridal Search, a gallery of 20,000 wedding gown images, which can be viewed at lightning speed by Road Runner users headed toward the altar.

"We are thrilled to add The Knot's content and tools to Road Runner's integration of rich multimedia applications and personalized services," said Audra Kalench, Road Runner Senior Director of Corporate Development. "The Knot is known for its wide range of innovative and easy-to-use features and it shares Road Runner's commitment to providing its users with the best possible content and services."

"Our new partnership with Road Runner extends our goal to be the primary source for to-be-weds, no matter where they look for wedding planning information," said David Liu, CEO of The Knot. "We're happy to be able to offer our interactive tools and in-depth content through Road Runner's high-speed access to its more than 912,00 subscribers."

About The Knot

The Knot (NASDAQ: KNOT) is the leading online wedding destination and the premier wedding content provider on America Online and several other of AOL's leading brands, located at www.theknot.com and at AOL keyword: weddings. Combining comprehensive content and an active online community with wedding-related commerce, The Knot's online sites provide extensive resources to help couples plan their wedding and future lives together as a couple.

The Knot also provides certain offline services to the wedding market such as a series of books with Random House's Broadway Books, a semiannual gown magazine called Wedding Gowns, and Wedding Pages, regional wedding magazines in over 50 U.S. markets. The Knot is based in New York and has several other offices across the country, as well as international joint ventures in Europe and Latin America.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Road Runner

Road Runner (www.roadrunner.com) is the nation's pre-eminent broadband service provider, serving in excess of 912,000 customers in the communities where it is available. It is a joint venture among affiliates of Time Warner Inc., AT&T, Microsoft Corp., Compaq Corp. and Advance/Newhouse. It combines the resources of five partners who are world leaders in media, telecommunications, computer software and hardware and publishing. The Road Runner character is a trademark and copyright of Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P.

This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are (i) The Knot's unproven business model and limited operating history, (ii) The Knot's history of losses and expectation of significant losses for the foreseeable future, (iii) The Knot's lack of significant revenues and the risk that it may be unable to adjust spending quickly enough to offset any unexpected revenue shortfall, (iv) the significant fluctuation to which The Knot's quarterly revenues and operating results are subject, (v) The Knot's reliance on AOL, QVC and a limited number of online sponsors and advertisers, (vi) the seasonality of the wedding industry and (vi) other factors detailed in The Knot's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.