Judy Poole, R.R. Donnelley Financial, 212/503-1463
[email protected]
Dawson Rorick, USWeb/CKS, 415/369-6719
[email protected]
USWeb/CKS and R.R. Donnelley Financial Form Strategic Venture to Combine Donnelley Financial's Industry Expertise with USWeb/CKS' Leading Internet Technology
San Francisco and New York - October 18, 1999 - R.R. Donnelley Financial, a leader in financial printing and content management services, and USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq:USWB), a leader in Internet professional services, today announced they have entered into a strategic relationship to offer a suite of print and electronic services for the financial marketplace.
The Donnelley Financial-USWeb/CKS joint strategy intends to offer "Managed Communications Services" - a suite of integrated print and electronic communications solutions - to address the needs of companies that deliver targeted marketing and legally required communications to a wide range of end-users. The two companies will work together in providing solutions to specific clients.
Managed Communications Services
The goal of the Managed Communications Services offering is to enable companies to integrate their print and electronic communications requirements through a single source. Service solutions, including the potential development of new products, are expected to encompass both the composition and distribution of regulatory and marketing communications. Related services are likely to include traditional and digital print, print on demand, e-mail and Internet delivery, content management, fulfillment, and Internet-based call centers.
The Managed Communications Services offerings are intended to provide integrated solutions that allow client companies to reach their constituencies in a more flexible, timely and cost-effective manner while meeting the legal and regulatory requirements of financial documents where necessary.
Donnelley Financial and USWeb/CKS intend to work together to actively promote these integrated services. In addition, they plan to identify new client and industry needs and to develop joint business and technical solutions or service offerings to meet such needs.
"As financial companies turn to the Internet to enhance service offerings and market products to clients on a one-to-one level, we are delighted to team with USWeb/CKS, a recognized leader in Internet-based and e-commerce solutions," said John A. Greco, Jr., Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Donnelley Financial. "By capitalizing on our experience in financial communications and USWeb/CKS' Internet expertise, we can offer clients one-stop, cutting-edge content management and electronic distribution solutions."
The joint strategy is expected to benefit Donnelley Financial's capital market, investment company and healthcare clients. "We have combined the resources of one of the world's largest Internet professional services firms and the world's premier printing company to create a world class Managed Communications channel. The mixture of Donnelley Financial and USWeb/CKS' service continuums offers tremendous strategic client value. We believe this powerful alliance will improve client relationships through the fulfillment of clients' demand for electronic, digital, and traditional printing distribution in the financial and healthcare marketplace," said Robert Shaw, CEO of USWeb/CKS.
The relationship further strengthens R.R. Donnelley Financial's commitment to leveraging technology to provide clients the highest level of service in the industry. Donnelley Financial currently offers the industry some of the most advanced applications, including Donnelley SENDD(R) and ProspectusBuilder(R). SENDD technology gives clients a secure Internet environment for delivering, editing and proofreading sensitive financial documents that allows workgroup members to communicate online and safely refine document content. ProspectusBuilder allows clients to maintain a master database of common and prospectus specific text elements that can be applied to and reused across the common language in an entire fund family.
About R.R. Donnelley Financial
Donnelley Financial is the around-the-world and around-the-clock provider of financial printing, data and content management and distribution services to the capital market, investment company and healthcare communities. From electronic filings on EDGAR to secure, interactive web-based document proofing on Donnelley SENDD(R), from integrated communications solutions to plain English expertise, Donnelley Financial is at the forefront of multiple-media content creation and distribution.
Donnelley Financial is a business unit of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (NYSE: DNY). For more information on Donnelley Financial, please visit our website at www.rrdfin.com.
About USWeb/CKS
USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq: USWB) seeks to transform businesses in the digital economy and create sustainable market leadership for its clients. As a leading Internet professional services firm, USWeb/CKS has created a new standard for success in the digital economy - Time-to-Value. Time-to-Value means USWeb/CKS applies its extensive insight, experience and scale to deliver breakthrough results quickly. The Company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with more than 3,800 professionals in over 50 locations worldwide. Additional information about USWeb/CKS is available by calling 415/284-7070 or 612/995-8964 (International).
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (as defined under securities law) regarding USWeb/CKS' relationship and planned initiatives with R.R. Donnelley Financial. The companies do not know if this relationship and the planned service offering will be successful, whether it will actually improve USWeb/CKS' client relationships or increase revenues, or if it will contribute positively to USWeb/CKS' results of operations, and actual results could be materially worse than anticipated. Factors that could influence the companies' experience include the ability of the two companies to coordinate efforts, agree on approaches and provide resources, technical challenges, costs related to the project, competition and market acceptance of the products and services offered. For additional information about factors that could affect the business of USWeb/CKS, see the documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.