EXHIBIT 99.1
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For further information, contact:
Rich Vancil Michelle Goodall/Christine Gannon
Individual, Inc. Schwartz Communications, Inc.
(617) 273-6000 x403 (617) 431-0770
rich@individual.com cgannon@schwartz-pr.com
Bennett Kleinberg
Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
(212) 704-8266
bkleinbe@edelman.com
Individual, Inc., Announces Agreement to Acquire FreeLoader, Inc.
Offline Web Delivery Will Complement Individual's Internet-Based Customized News
Services
Burlington, Mass. -- June 2, 1996 -- Individual, Inc. (NASDAQ: INDV) a pioneer
and leading provider of customized news services, announced today that it has
entered a definitive agreement to acquire FreeLoader, Inc., the creator of the
first offline World Wide Web delivery service. The acquisition will provide end
users with two of the most exciting developments to emerge from the Internet in
recent months: personalized "intelligent-agent driven" news retrieval and
offline Web delivery.
The purchase price is approximately $38 million which includes 1.8 million
shares of Individual common stock for all the outstanding stock of FreeLoader
and $2 million in cash. Included in the 1.8 million are 281,000 shares reserved
for exercise of FreeLoader stock options assumed by Individual. The acquisition
will be accounted for as a purchase and Individual expects that the amount
recognized as the excess of purchase price over net assets acquired will be
amortized through 1998. The agreement is expected to close before the end of
June 1996.
Under the terms of the agreement, FreeLoader will continue to operate as an
autonomous business unit of Individual, Inc. working to develop new technologies
for personalized offline news and information delivery. FreeLoader cofounders
Pincus and Paul will retain their current posts.
"This acquisition is about internetizing Individual and individualizing the
Internet. With the Freeloader software Individual and the entire web community
can dramatically change how information services are delivered on the Internet:
making this a pro-active rather than a passive experience," said Yosi Amram,
president and CEO of Individual.
Web users want information that is relevant to their interests, presented in a
way that is easy to set up, maintain and access. Individual expects that
FreeLoader's software will significantly enrich the process of retrieving and
accessing Web based information -- both for current Individual customers and for
the broader population of Web users. In addition to providing benefits to
Internet consumers, the Individual and FreeLoader combination will enable
Information Providers to enhance their Web based publishing and to generate new
sources of revenue. FreeLoader's offline delivery provides the opportunity for
Information Providers to turn casual Web surfers into regular, repeat customers.
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"As the growth of the Internet and agent-based services accelerates, the name-
of-the-game is aggressive user growth. Freeloader helps us achieve this
important strategic objective," added Amram.
Individual's proprietary information-gathering technology allows readers to
receive news that is customized from a daily story flow of 20,000 news items
from over 630 different publishers, including newswires, newspapers, magazines
and newsletters. Subscribers can receive their personalized news on a single-
user or enterprise-wide basis with delivery via fax, e-mail, groupware,
corporate intranets or on the World Wide Web.
FreeLoader's offline downloading service "surfs the Web while you sleep,"
collecting information from pre-selected Web sites at user-defined intervals and
storing it on users' hard disk drives for retrieval at any time. This process
virtually eliminates the waiting time associated with retrieving and viewing
Web-based multimedia content, such as high-resolution graphics, videos and audio
files. FreeLoader's dynamic, interactive screen saver makes the presentation
and access of web content fast and easy.
When integrated, Individual's and FreeLoader's technologies will have the
capability of delivering user-defined news and information directly from the Web
offline to each customer. In addition, FreeLoader's technology will enhance
Individual's text-oriented news delivery with personalized audio and video news
content.
"Since our launch last month, tens of thousands of users have downloaded
FreeLoader," said Mark Pincus, president and CEO of FreeLoader, Inc. "We've
also built momentum by partnering with approximately 30 Web sites that offer our
software, including ZDNet, Yahoo!, Excite, Infoseek, Hotwired and USA Today.
Combining forces with Individual, however, is by far the most significant
validation to date of the impact that offline Web delivery will have on the
future of the Internet."
"The number of distribution partners and the acceptance of the product achieved
by FreeLoader since its recent introduction is very exciting. Although we are
not expecting any significant revenue contribution in 1996, we believe that the
foundation will be in place for accelerated revenue contribution in 1997 and
beyond. FreeLoader will aggressively continue to expand their marketing,
distribution and product development, and plans to increase their personnel
headcount from approximately 40 to over 75 by the end of 1996," added Amram.
Founded in October, 1995 and based in Washington, D.C., FreeLoader, Inc.
(http://www.freeloader.com) is the creator of the world's first offline World
Wide Web delivery service. The company's self-titled software and service is an
advertiser-supported, user-friendly software application which retrieves Web
sites and stores them on an end-user's hard disk for later viewing. Version 1.0
of the FreeLoader software was released in May 1996 following a three-month beta
test. FreeLoader received equity financing from SOFTBANK Corporation's venture
capital arm. SOFTVEN, and Euclid Partners.
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Founded in 1989, Individual, Inc., is a leading provider of customized news to
business professionals worldwide. Through its proprietary knowledge processing
system, Individual intelligently connects content publishers with subscribers.
Its interactive, customized news services include First!, for corporate
workgroups and enterprises, HeadsUp and Physician's NewScan for single
subscribers, and NewsPage (http://www.newspage.com) and BookWire
(http://www.bookwire.com) on the World Wide Web. The Company received the
Breakout Company of the Year award from the Information Industry Association for
1995. Individual has established alliances with many prominent industry leaders
including Gartner Group, Lotus, Knight-Ridder, Microsoft Corp., NETCOM On-Line
Communication Services, Netscape Communications Corp., and Toshiba. The company
is headquartered in Burlington, Mass., with offices in Burlingame, Calif.; New
York City; Tokyo; and the United Kingdom.
Certain of the above statements are forward looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially as a result of
a variety of factors, including competitive developments, and risk factors
listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports.
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First!, HeadsUp, Physician's NewScan, NewsPage and BookWire are trademarks of
Individual, Inc.
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