IDG Books and Simplicity Pattern Company Sew Up Licensing Deal; Best Selling For Dummies How-To Brand Finds Common Thread In Mass Market Strategy

Business Wire, June 12, 2000

Business Editors/Publishing Writers

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2000

IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq:IDGB), and Simplicity Pattern Co. announced today a licensing partnership that will bring IDGB's best-selling For Dummies(R) brand and its unique fun and easy how-to style to Simplicity Pattern Company, the most celebrated leader in sewing and craft patterns and user-friendly home-sewing instruction for nearly a century.

Slated to premiere in stores early next year, the For Dummies(R) pattern collection will include Craft Patterns, Home Decorating Patterns, Kids Apparel Patterns, and Accessory Patterns. The line will adopt the popular brand imagery of the distinct yellow-and-black For Dummies design, logo, icons and user-friendly format.

The success of IDGB's For Dummies brand includes numerous awards and high-profile recognition for its marketing innovations and editorial excellence. Since the brand made its debut in 1991, there are over 85 million For Dummies books in print, and the brand is recognized worldwide for its anxiety-chasing approach to making learning a wide range of topics, from computers and cooking to personal finance and foreign languages, simple and fun.

The For Dummies patterns will be available in the U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom. The collection will be featured in Simplicity's popular pattern catalogs, which are updated eight times a year and distributed to mass market, fabric, craft and specialty stores wherever fabrics are sold. Catalogs and designs can also be viewed online at www.simplicity.com.

"IDGB is thrilled to enter into this partnership with Simplicity," said Lina Pagano, licensing manager for IDGB. "Both our brands are leaders, and both are particularly strong with females in their 30s and 40s who are professional, married and interested in reducing stress by learning new hobbies like sewing and crafts."

"This extension of our For Dummies name stretches our consumer reach, and further proves the power of our brands in tapping new markets that we are just beginning to identify," she continued.

Said Judy Raymond, senior vice president, product for Simplicity Patterns: "Simplicity and IDGB's For Dummies brands are such a perfect fit because both are synonymous with self-education and improving one's life. We expect our Simplicity For Dummies Patterns series to help women, and all would-be crafters, to rediscover the joy and simple satisfaction of sewing."

About Simplicity Patterns Co., Inc.

Based in Manhattan, Simplicity Patterns Company, Inc., is the world's largest manufacturer of home sewing patterns and sewing instruction materials for nearly a century. In the U.S., Simplicity Patterns are sold through mass market and specialty channels such as Wal-Mart, JoAnn's Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, Hobby Lobby and wherever fabrics are sold. Simplicity Pattern catalogs are updated eight times a year, keeping pace with changes in fashion, season and trends, and include patterns for women's, men's and children's apparel, uniforms, home decorating, crafts and costumes. More information about Simplicity products and its licensees is available at www.simplicity.com.

About IDG Books Worldwide

IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq:IDGB), headquartered in Foster City, Calif., is a leading global knowledge company with a diverse portfolio of technology, consumer and general how-to content brands, computer-based learning tools, Web sites and Internet e-services. IDGB's best-selling brands include For Dummies(R), 3-D Visual(R), Bible(R), CliffsNotes(TM), Frommer's(R) Travel Guides, The Unofficial Guides(R), Betty Crocker's(R) cook books, Weight Watchers(R) and Webster's New World(TM). IDGB is also the publisher of AOL Press, Hewlett-Packard Press, Netscape Press and Novell Press.

The company has more than 4,000 active titles, has publishing partnership agreements in more than 90 countries plus translations in 38 languages around the world. IDGB owns the Web sites www.dummies.com, www.frommers.com and www.cliffsnotes.com. More information about IDGB is available from the company's SEC filing or by visiting the company Web site at www.idgbooks.com. IDGB is a subsidiary of International Data Group, Inc., a leading global provider of information technology media, research, conferences and expositions.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are risks associated with the timing of the new product and online releases and risks that the new products will not be successful in the market as well as risk factors detailed from time to time in the company's periodic reports and registration statements which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.