Merger places AmericanGreetings.com among the top 15 sites

Drug Store News, March 5, 2001 by Michael Johnsen

CLEVELAND -- AmericanGreetings.com and Egreetings Network signed a merger agreement last month in which AmericanGreetings.com will acquire all outstanding shares of Egreetings for 85 cents a share. The acquisition establishes AmericanGreetings.com as the category leader in electronic greetings, already the second most-popular activity on the Web, according to the company.

"The acquisition of Egreetings by AmericanGreetings.com will place AmericanGreetings.com among the top 15 Web sites, with 20 million unique monthly visitors," stated Josef Mandelbaum, chief executive of AmericanGreetings.com.

American Greetings also announced it will revise the value of its initial investment in Egreetings and will take a non-cash charge of approximately $33 million. The greeting card company acquired approximately 20 percent of Egreetings' shares during its March 2000 acquisition of Gibson Greetings.

American Greetings will include the charge as an investment loss in its fiscal 2001 fourth quarter and full year earnings.