Bure exercises option in Media Metrix/Relevant Knowledge
Bure exercises option in Media Metrix/Relevant Knowledge strengthens its position in the leading web-measuring company in the USA By exercising an option, Bure InfoMedia has increased its holding in the American company, Media Metrix/Relevant Knowledge. The company was formed through a merger of Relevant Knowledge and its sector colleague, Media Metrix. The company is now the largest enterprise in the USA in measuring Internet use with, among other things, registration of visiting frequency of web pages. In the Nordic countries, the Sifo Group's company Sifo Interactive Media which is also included in Bure InfoMedia, markets the products. The investment which has now been carried out amounts to USD 2M which gives a total ownership of 3 per cent in the company. In July 1998, Bure entered as a stakeholder in the American web-measuring company, Relevant Knowledge. The company was thereafter merged with its sector colleague, Media Metrix which operates in the same segment. The new company is now the clearly leading company in the USA in measuring Internet traffic and use of the web. The company is undergoing continued rapid growth. 1998 sales are expected to amount to approximately USD 8M. For 1999, sales are expected to increase significantly. Media Metrix/Relevant Knowledge has put together a panel comprising more than 40,000 people who have a special software product installed in their computers. The program registers how the user acts on the net which can then be matched with demographic data. The customer base consists of more than 250 companies in the infomedia sector, including advertisers, media brokerage companies and web producers. "The investment in Media Metrix/Relevant Knowledge has given Bure an advantage in measuring web use which will be an increasingly important component in media monitoring as well as development of new interactive media and business," says Ulf Ivarsson, Head of Bure InfoMedia. "With the increase in our holding, we are strengthening our involvement still further which is important not least in our marketing of the company's services in the Nordic countries." Bure InfoMedia is included as one of five Business Areas in Investment AB Bure. Operations are carried out in Business Sectors Information Services, Media Services and Document Handling. Gothenburg, 14 December 1998 Investment AB Bure (publ) tion, please contact: Ulf Ivarsson, Head of Business Area InfoMedia +46 31-335 76 35 Knut Leman, Director of +46 31-335 76 75 Corporate Communications ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1998/12/14/19981214BIT00170/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1998/12/14/19981214BIT00170/bit0002.pdf