FRANCE IN THE NEWS

FortuneCity.com announces new site for French speakers worldwide
(Business Wire; 05/26/99)

FortuneCity.com (Neuer Markt:FCT), one of the largest and fastest growing international networks of native language web-based communities on the Internet, announced today its latest native language community: the French language site at http://fr.fortunecity.com or via a link at www.fortunecity.com. French speakers around the world, from France to Canada to Belgium and Madagascar, can access the new community.

The new French site is FortuneCity.com's fourth non-English-language version of the exciting FortuneCity.com experience tailored to a global market. There are also versions in Spanish (http://es.fortunecity.com), Swedish (www.fortunecity.se) and German (www.fortunecity.de). In addition, there is a U.K. site (www.fortunecity.co.uk), and the company plans to offer communities in Italian, Portuguese and Dutch by the end of 1999.

"FortuneCity.com has quickly become the first true international community on the Internet. The French language site is yet another example of our global vision coming to fruition. We also take great pride that our native language sites are always in tune with the spirit of each culture," said Peter Macnee, president and CEO, FortuneCity.com.

For example, the French language site has themed districts called "Quartiers" with appropriate French names such as "La Défense" or "La Cité de la Musique." In addition, the site also has "Ministers," known has "Deputés," which govern its themed Quartiers.

"This is the largest online community site developed in the French language. We are eager for French speakers to get excited about the benefits of being part of a global online community," added Macnee. "Further, we are making sure that these new citizens know that their privacy is totally protected at FortuneCity.com -- something all of our global citizens care about."

Like all FortuneCity international communities, the French FortuneCity site offers its citizens an industry-leading 20 MB of free Web space and the best support network available for building home and business pages. In addition, citizens are offered free e-mail, chat rooms, message boards and a host of activities from awards and contests to debates and election activities. For further information: Peter Macnee, CEO, FortuneCity.com Inc. (tel: 212-995- 2489, Ext.212), Joe Gonzalez, CFO , FortuneCity.com Inc. (212-995-2489, Ext.213), Allyson Stinchfield, Citigate DGPR (312-372-6144), Kendra Berke, Citigate DGPR (312-372-6143). Notes to editors FortuneCity.com Inc.

FortuneCity is one of the largest and fastest growing international networks of native language Web-based communities on the Internet. Users register with FortuneCity communities as "Citizens" to enjoy the interactive entertainment of the Internet through the opportunity to build their own homepages with an industry leading 20 MB of free Web space, access free e-mail, chat, share ideas and experiences and join special interest groups. To date, the company has community sites in English, German, Swedish, Spanish and French and intends to offer communities in Italian, Portuguese and Dutch by the end of 1999. With thousands of Citizens joining each day, the FortuneCity Communities have grown from approximately 135,000 Citizens in January 1998, to over 1.5 million as of March 1999.

FortuneCity successfully completed an Initial Public Offering of 5,852, 583 common shares at a price of Euro 15 per share, at the top of the Book Building range of Euro 13 to 15. The offer was 37 times over-subscribed and raised gross proceeds for the Company of Euro 87,788,745 or $US 94,920,345. The shares began trading on March 19th 1999 on the Neuer Markt Segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Proceeds from the offering will be used for the expansion of advertising, advertising sales and marketing organisations, promotion of the Company's brand, expansion of its international operations, for product development and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

FortuneCity.com is a 50 percent owner of AcmeCity.com, a joint venture with Warner Bros. Online, a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. and a shareholder of FortuneCity.com. FortuneCity.com operates the AcmeCity.com community ("AcmeCity"), which is developed around the proprietary film, television, animation and music content of Warner Bros. Since its premiere on the World Wide Web in early 1999, www.acmecity.com has topped half a million pages of user-generated contents from more than 200,000 registered members. AcmeCity.com, with its concentration on branded entertainment fan pages, provides a protected community that is designed to assure a consistent and quality environment for families and advertisers.

{BusinessWire:Technology-0526.01358} 05/26/99

 

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