Somerset, NJ, September 5th 2000. VISTA
International, the leading worldwide provider of solutions and services for the publishing
industry, today announced that it will spin off PubEasy.com, the Global Publishing
e-Marketplace™, as a separate company.
PubEasy.com began operations in 1998 as a division of VISTA. The company has since
built the industry’s leading network of linked, standardized B2B web sites that are
connected to many ERP order fulfillment systems including; VISTA, SAP, IBM and others.
Current participants in the PubEasy.com marketplace include 20 of the top 30 major
publisher, distributor and wholesaler companies in the US and UK who comprise a network of
linked, standardized B2B websites.
Over 2,800 booksellers with more than 4,000 users have registered and are using the
marketplace daily to place and track orders, inquire on title, price and availability and
view e-catalogs. With its new /TRANSACT™ technology, available in September,
booksellers will be able to place and transmit high volumes of "batched"
inquiries and orders, link to carrier and shipper information as well as view market
restriction and custom pricing details.
PubEasy.com is located in White Plains, New York and London, England and has 20
employees.
3i, a leading global venture capital firm have made an early-stage investment in the
new company to facilitate its next stage of growth and development. In addition, the
company has an ongoing relationship, including an equity investment with Monitor
Marketplace, a leading global strategy-consulting firm.
Thomas A. Paul, Chairman of the new company said, "PubEasy.com is a unique
industry marketplace and is the only genuine Industry intermediary. It is back-office
system independent and possesses the only "clean" standardized global e-commerce
identification system. By attracting external investment, PubEasy.com will step up the
deployment of new technologies, services and strategic alliances to solidify our position
as the publishing industry standard for global e-commerce."
Brian Gibson, VISTA International Group CEO said, "VISTA incubated PubEasy.com as
a response to the industry’s need to streamline the supply chain between publishers,
distributors, wholesalers and booksellers. PubEasy.com is changing how many companies do
business today and will continue to have a major impact as the Internet plays an
increasingly critical role in our Industry."
Peter Clifton, PubEasy.com’s CEO, added, "PubEasy.com is having a major
impact on how business-to-business transactions are handled over the Internet to drive out
costs and inefficiencies. The Global e-Marketplace we’ve been building now has a
strong infrastructure and foundation and is poised to deliver additional value and benefit
in unique and exciting ways. Having the benefit of increased focus and resources will
support our efforts greatly."
