Internet Gold's Smile.Media and Yediot Internet to Launch YNET-Branded e-Commerce Site
27 November 2006 - 4:01PM
PR Newswire (US)
PETACH TIKVA, Israel, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Internet
Gold, (Nasdaq NMS and TASE: IGLD) today announced that Smile.Media
Ltd., its fully-owned subsidiary, and Yedioth Internet, operator of
the popular Israeli YNET portal (http://www.ynet.co.il/) have
agreed to jointly establish a YNET-branded e-Commerce site. The new
site, which will be launched by the end of 2006, will offer a broad
range of popular products. Profits from the site will be divided
equally between Smile.Media and Yedioth Internet. "Our
rapidly-growing online commerce activities are making an
increasingly significant contribution to the Group, reflecting the
coming of age of this important new shopping channel," said Eli
Holtzman, Internet Gold's CEO. "As such, we are now taking our
e-Commerce activities to the next level. We are delighted to
partner with YNET, a popular news portal with a large, highly-
educated user base that offers strong potential to become frequent
on-line buyers. We are confident that the combination of
Smile.Media's experience in monetizing Internet properties and
YNET's strong capabilities will result in a highly profitable
e-Commerce site. "From a technology point of view, we have over the
past year invested a significant amount of time and resources to
upgrade our e-Commerce platform, and plan to develop it even
further. We will utilize our advanced, user- friendly platform to
enhance the user experience of all our e-Commerce activities, a
step we believe will pay off in expanded revenues and market
share." Yacov Netzer, CEO of Yedioth Internet - ynet.co.il, added:
"We are all looking forward to develop this new relationship. This
strategic cooperation will emphasize our ability to deliver
services as well as news and content." About Internet Gold Internet
Gold is Israel's leading IP Group with a major presence across all
Internet-related sectors. Its smile.communications segment offers a
variety of Internet access and related value-added services,
international telephony and enterprise/IT integration services. Its
smile.media segment manages a growing portfolio of Internet portals
and e-Commerce sites. Internet Gold has entered into an agreement
to acquire 60% of the control and equity in 012 Golden Lines Ltd
("012") based on a valuation of US$ 140 million. 012 is a major
Internet Service Provider with revenues of $ 138.8 million in 2005
and is also a leader in Israel's Voice Over Broadband domestic
telephony. The agreement is subject to the approval of both boards
of directors and the relevant regulatory authorities. According to
the agreement, following the acquisition, 012 will merge with
IGLD's Communications activities. Internet Gold is part of the
Eurocom communications group. Its shares trade on the Nasdaq
National Market and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. For additional
information about Internet Gold, please visit its investors' site
at http://www.igld.com/. Certain statements made herein that use
the words "estimate," "project," "intend," "expect," "believe" and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known
and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from those which may be expressed or implied
by such statements, including, among others, changes in general
economic and business conditions and specifically, decline in
demand for the Company's services, inability to timely develop and
introduce new technologies, services and applications and loss of
market share and pressure on prices resulting from competition. For
additional information regarding these and other risks and
uncertainties associated with the Company's business, reference is
made to the Company's Annual Report filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission and its other reports as filed from time to
time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For further
information, please contact: Lee Roth KCSA Worldwide
+1-212-896-1209 In Israel: Mor Dagan Investor Relations +972 3
516-7620 Ms. Idit Azulay, Internet Gold +972 3 939-9848 DATASOURCE:
Internet Gold CONTACT: Lee Roth, KCSA Worldwide, +1-212-896-1209;
In Israel: Mor Dagan, Investor Relations, +972 3 516-7620; or Ms.
Idit Azulay, Internet Gold, +972 3 939-9848, Web site:
http://www.igld.com/
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