CMGI Acquires Cha! Technologies and Flagship 1ClickCharge Service; Single-Click Platform Marks CMGI Entry Into Net-based Payment Systems - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Sept 27, 1999

CMGI, Inc., the world's largest and most diverse network of Internet companies, has announced the completed acquisition of Cha! Technologies, a New York-based e-commerce company whose flagship 1ClickCharge Internet payment service enables online merchants, publishers and consumers to conveniently and securely exchange goods, services and information over the Internet.

1ClickCharge is a 100% outsourced single-click Internet payment service for web content. Based on a patented authentication technology, 1ClickCharge enables consumers to quickly and easily purchase digital content on a pay-per-use basis in small dollar amounts. The 1ClickCharge micropayment technology can be applied to a wide array of digital content, including digital collectibles, MP3 files, software applets, video applets, subscriptions, research, and more, and enables web merchants to price content for sale or pay consumers in amounts as low as pennies.

As announced in early 1999, 1ClickCharge has currently signed more than a dozen beta customers including Institutional Investor, Miller Freeman, Zacks, Hoovers, WorkingSolo.com, MaMaMedia, and Kesmai-GameStorm. At its website (http://www.1clickcharge.com) the company will begin offering free premium content incentives to consumers in Q4 1999. The full commercial 1.0 version of 1ClickCharge will launch in Q1 2000.

"Today the CMGI network of Internet companies includes a number of leading e-commerce sites, both in the business to business and business to consumer arenas. As such, it's a natural extension of our model to make complimentary acquisitions in the `infrastructure' side of the e-commerce business," said David Wetherell, Chairman and CEO, CMGI.

"1ClickCharge meets two of our most important criteria--it's scaleable and it's viral--and it will have immediate applications for a number of CMGI-affiliated companies, including Engage, ThingWorld.com, and iCAST," added Wetherell. "More importantly, Cha's patented authentication technology, the real `workhorse' beneath its Internet payment system, can be applied to a limitless number of business applications, including information exchange and customer care, and we want to help them exploit those opportunities."

"We're extremely pleased to be joining the CMGI network of companies," said Cha! President and CEO Heidi Goff. "CMGI's unparalleled Web reach will help set in place the business synergies we need to achieve critical mass. Our goal is to become the de facto standard for micropayments across all Internet payment platforms, and we're working now to expand the 1ClickCharge service to enable not simply business-to-business or business-to-consumer purchases, but also consumer-to-consumer purchases."

According to the terms of the agreement, CMGI will acquire 80% of Cha! Technologies for $12.5 million in CMGI stock and will commit another $12.5 million in operating capital. Effective immediately, the company will join the CMGI network as a majority-owned operating company, continuing to operate out of its New York City headquarters.

A recognized leader in the Internet economy, CMGI, Inc. has built a substantial base of Internet operating companies and, through its @Ventures affiliates, has invested in a growing portfolio of synergistic Internet enterprises which enhance the value of its core holdings. This unique method of generating equity for its shareholders is what CMGI calls "creating net value." Microsoft, Intel, Sumitomo and Compaq hold minority positions in CMGI.

CMGI's majority-owned subsidiaries include Engage Technologies (Nasdaq:ENGA), Activerse, Adsmart, AltaVista, Cha! Technologies, iCAST, Magnitude Network, NaviSite, NaviNet, Planet Direct and ZineZone. The company's @Ventures affiliates have ownership interests in Lycos, Inc., Critical Path, Silknet, Chemdex, Advoco.com, Ancestry.com, Asimba, AuctionWatch, Aureate Media, blaxxun, BizBuyer.com, buyingedge.com, CarParts.com, eCircles.com, Furniture.com, HotLinks, Intelligent/Digital, KOZ.com, Mondera.com, MotherNature.com, NextMonet.com, NextPlanetOver.com, OneCore.com, ONElist, PlanetOutdoors.com, Productopia, Promedix.com, Raging Bull, Softway Systems, Speech Machines, ThingWorld.com, Universal Learning Technology, Vicinity, Virtual Ink and Visto.

CMGI is also the majority-owner of SalesLink, InSolutions and On-Demand Solutions, leaders in the direct marketing, fulfillment and turnkey arenas. CMGI Corporate headquarters is located at 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810. Telephone: 978-684-3600. Fax: 978-684-3814. Additional information is available on the company's Web site at http://www.cmgi.com/.

Cha! Technologies, an Internet payment services company in New York's Silicon Alley, is launching its first product, 1ClickCharge, a single-click Internet payment service, in a market space it calls "convenience e-commerce". The company plans to be the dominant payment service for single-click transactions under $20. Founded in 1996, the company is led by Heidi Goff, President and CEO, a 20-year senior management veteran of MasterCard, GlobalPay, ADP and IBM; and Brian Smiga, VP of Marketing and Business Development, formerly co-founder of software companies Actioneer and DaytoDay. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.1clickcharge.com.