Investor Relations Industry Leader Supports Fair Disclosure Rule Cleared by SEC

Business Wire, August 17, 2000

Business Editors

MAYNARD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 2000

Ruling Important Step in Transformation of Investor Relations from

Repository to Broadcaster of Important Financial Information

Last week's decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve a new Fair Disclosure Regulation requiring public companies to disclose all market-moving information with individual investors simultaneously with securities professionals and analysts comes as no surprise to Ronald Gruner, President of Shareholder.com. An eight-year proponent of open disclosure to individual investors, Mr. Gruner labeled last week's ruling as an "important step" in a fundamental change in the role of Investor Relations' professionals.

"Last week's ruling, primarily driven by the Internet and other technological communication innovations, represents an important yet largely symbolic step in the transformation of both the distribution of and access to financial information of public companies," Mr. Gruner said. "I have frequently spoken about this issue at conferences around the world, espousing my belief that the investor relations industry is undergoing a fundamental shift from simply being an inactive repository of financial information, accessible to those wishing to spend the time to find it, to more of a proactive newscast model. Now, individual investors are demanding that key financial information about their stock investments be distributed when and how they want it and at par with securities professionals and analyst communities."

Mr. Gruner made these comments in conjunction with the formal release of a new investor relations solution by Shareholder.com, NewsWizard.(TM) NewsWizard enables Investor Relations Officers (IROs) to simultaneously distribute financial information to securities professionals, analysts and individual investors, offering unparalleled management over email distribution, fax broadcasting, conference-call scheduling, initiating multimedia presentations, live webcasts, and selectively publishing through an open publishing network (OPN).

"Technological advancements started the movement toward a more level playing field, by enabling skillful investors access to important financial information at one time reserved solely for investment and securities professionals," Mr. Gruner added. "By placing the onus on public companies to provide open disclosure of important financial information to all investors simultaneously, last week's SEC ruling will cause these companies to look to innovative push-technology such as NewsWizard to efficiently and effectively comply with these new guidelines."

Over the last two weeks, many clients of Shareholder.com have been attending training sessions to familiarize themselves with the tools provided by NewsWizard, and many are looking forward to the enhanced distribution capabilities provided by this innovative technology.

"Although we don't selectively disclose financial information, and have already been using technology and services provided by Shareholder.com to broadcast information to the public, we look forward to the increased ease and speed of distribution that NewsWizard promises to provide," said Alvin Santiago, Manager of Shareholder Relations for Fortune Brands (NYSE: SO).

"NewsWizard's push-technology is a necessity with the regulation for fair disclosure," said Michelle Appleby, Coordinator of Investor Relations for Santa Fe International Corporation (NYSE: SDC), a leading international offshore and land oil and gas contract-driller with corporate offices in Dallas, Texas. "With this new ability, I feel more comfortable that all interested parties on our news distribution list will receive it simultaneously, regardless of the time the release was first sent out."

About Shareholder.com:

Shareholder.com is the industry leader in delivering leading edge technologies for communicating with investors. Its comprehensive service provides customized investor relations websites, integrated fax and email broadcasts, telephone services including recorded information and 24x7 telephone representatives and comprehensive mail fulfillment services. Shareholder.com services more than 35 million shareholders for its 350 leading U.S. and international client companies including over 100 client companies on the "Global 500" list such as Gateway Corporation (NYSE:GTW), America Online (NYSE:AOL), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMS) and Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG). Clients also include newly public companies such as Internet IPO's Allaire Corp. (NASDAQ:ALLR), Onyx Software (NASDAQ:ONXS) and Stamps.com (NASDAQ: STMP).

For additional information, case studies and interviews, please contact Dennis O'Connor at Peter Arnold Associates, 781-239-1030, cell 781-883-5109, dennis@parnold.com; or Bradley Smith, Director of Marketing Communications at Shareholder.com, 800-990-NEWS, smith@shareholder.com; or visit www.shareholder.com.