American Greetings Expands Product Offering Through Acquisition of an Online Photo Sharing Company
October 25 2007 - 4:15PM
PR Newswire (US)
CLEVELAND, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings Corporation
(NYSE:AM) today announced it has acquired the online assets of the
Webshots brand from CNET Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNET). The purchase
price was approximately $45 million and is subject to customary
post closing adjustments. Webshots is one of the largest online
photo and video sharing sites on the Internet with more than 7
million unique monthly U.S. visitors as measured by The Nielsen
Company, a leading global Internet information provider, and with
more than 400 million digital photos stored. Webshots offers both
free and premium memberships with a variety of features. Users of
Webshots can easily manage their photos online, share their photos,
order prints, and order custom photo gifts. Zev Weiss, Chief
Executive Officer said, "The acquisition of Webshots gives us the
opportunity to expand our current product offering of online social
expressions into the adjacent area of online photo sharing. The
online photo market has grown dramatically over the past few years
as consumers purchase and use digital cameras, share and print
their photos through Internet sites, and look for ways to
incorporate their photos on personalized products, including
greeting cards." Josef Mandelbaum, CEO of AG Intellectual
Properties, one of American Greetings segments, stated, "This
acquisition is a natural extension of our interactive business,
which is already a leading provider of electronic social expression
content. The combination of Webshots, along with our existing
business, makes us a top 50 U.S. Web site." Weiss added, "At this
time, the transaction is anticipated to be mildly dilutive to
fiscal 2008 earnings. However, we still expect to achieve our
previously announced estimate of earnings per share from continuing
operations for fiscal 2008 of $1.35 to $1.55 per share." About
American Greetings Corporation American Greetings Corporation
(NYSE:AM) is one of the world's largest manufacturers of social
expression products. Along with greeting cards, its product lines
include gift wrap, party goods, stationery, calendars, ornaments
and electronic greetings. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American
Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion.
For more information on the Company, visit
http://corporate.americangreetings.com/. Certain statements in this
release may constitute forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Federal securities laws. These statements can be
identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic
or current facts. They use such words as "anticipate," "estimate,"
"expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words
and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of
future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking
statements are based on currently available information, but are
subject to a variety of uncertainties, unknown risks and other
factors concerning the Company's operations and business
environment, which are difficult to predict and may be beyond the
control of the Company. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those suggested by these
forward-looking statements, and that could adversely affect the
Company's future financial performance, include, but are not
limited to, the following: -- retail consolidations, acquisitions
and bankruptcies, including the possibility of resulting adverse
changes to retail contract terms; -- the Company's ability to
successfully implement its strategy to invest in its core greeting
card business; -- the timing and impact of investments in new
retail or product strategies as well as new product introductions
and achieving the desired benefits from those investments; -- the
timing and impact of converting customers to a scan-based trading
model; -- the ability to execute share repurchase programs or the
ability to achieve the desired accretive effect from such
repurchases; -- the Company's ability to successfully complete, or
achieve the desired benefits associated with, dispositions; -- a
weak retail environment; -- consumer acceptance of products as
priced and marketed; -- the impact of technology on core product
sales; -- competitive terms of sale offered to customers; --
successful implementation of supply chain improvements and
achievement of projected cost savings from those improvements; --
increases in the cost of material, energy, freight, and other
production costs; -- the Company's ability to comply with its debt
covenants; -- fluctuations in the value of currencies in major
areas where the Company operates, including the U.S. Dollar, Euro,
U.K. Pound Sterling, and Canadian Dollar; -- escalation in the cost
of providing employee health care; -- successful integration of
acquisitions; and -- the outcome of any legal claims known or
unknown. Risks pertaining specifically to AG Interactive include
the viability of online advertising, subscriptions as revenue
generators and the public's acceptance of online greetings and
other social expression products. In addition, this release
contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best
analysis as of the date of this release. American Greetings does
not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or
circumstances that arise after the date of this release. Further
information concerning issues that could materially affect
financial performance related to forward-looking statements can be
found in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the "Risk Factors" section of the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
February 28, 2007. DATASOURCE: American Greetings Corporation
CONTACT: Gregory M. Steinberg, Treasurer and Director of Investor
Relations of American Greetings Corporation, +1-216-252-4864, Web
site: http://corporate.americangreetings.com/
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