Internet Gold / Smile.Media's Nirshamim to Expand its International Website to Foreign Markets
April 26 2007 - 4:35AM
PR Newswire (US)
Plans to Launch International Website in the US at NAFSA 2007
PETACH TIKVA, Israel, April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Internet
Gold, (Nasdaq NMS and TASE: IGLD) today announced that Nirshamim
Lelimudim Ltd. ("Nirshamim"), the academic portal wholly owned by
Smile.Media Ltd., Internet Gold's fully owned media subsidiary,
will launch a new international website, http://www.nirshamim.com/,
at the NAFSA Association of International Educators' 2007 59th
Annual Conference, which will take place May 27-June 1 in
Minneapolis. The new site is designed to make it easier for U.S.
academic institutions to disseminate information about their
programs to potential students in foreign countries. Similar to
Nirshamim's Israeli portal, the international site will generate
revenues from a lead-generation business model and advertising. To
date, Nirshamim has secured advertising and lead-generation
agreements with more than 90 academic institutions throughout the
U.S. and expects to sign additional agreements at the NAFSA 2007
Conference. This entrepreneurial initiative has received the
endorsement of the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department
of Commerce, which is working with Nirshamim in order to enlarge
the number of Israeli students in U.S academic institutions.
Smile.Media owns 100% of Nirshamim following its acquisition of a
50% interest in 2005 and the remaining 50% in 2006. Nirshamim's
revenues more than doubled in 2006 as compared to 2005, and
management projects that its revenues will increase by an
additional 50% in 2007. This is due both to their expectation of
double-digit growth in the Internet advertising budgets of Israeli
academic institutions during 2007 and the revenue contribution that
is expected to be made by the new international site. Commenting on
the news, Eli Holtzman, Internet Gold's CEO, said, "We are very
pleased with Nirshamim's progress to date, which has proven the
need for - and commercial viability of - a portal that helps
students decide where to enroll. Having established Nirshamim as a
well-known brand in Israel, it is natural to extend it to include
information on American universities and colleges, many of whom are
extremely interested in reaching Israeli and other foreign
students. In the future, we plan to expand Nirshamim further,
launching it in additional countries in which there is a high
degree of interest in studying in the U.S." Mr. Kobi Sadeh-Feldboy,
Founder and CEO of Nirshamim, added, "Despite its relatively small
size, Israel accounts for the largest number of students from the
Middle East that study in U.S. academic institutions. As such,
Israel is an important target market for American universities
looking to attract a more diverse student population." About
Internet Gold Internet Gold is one of Israel's leading
communications groups with a major presence across all
Internet-related sectors. Its Smile.Communications segment is one
of the country's major Internet and International Telephony service
providers, which also offers domestic voice over broadband, and one
of its largest providers of enterprise/IT integration services. Its
Smile.Media segment manages a growing portfolio of Internet portals
and e-Commerce sites. Internet Gold is part of the Eurocom
Communications Group. Its shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Market
and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange as part of the Tel Aviv-100
index. For additional information about Internet Gold, please visit
its investors' site at: http://www.igld.com/. For additional
information about Nirshamim, please visit its site at:
http://www.nirshamim.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 +972-72-200-3848
DATASOURCE: Internet Gold CONTACT: 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, +972-72-200-3848,
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