News

Somerset, NJ, April 23, 2001 . . . VISTA International (Somerset, NJ, USA and Northwood, Middlesex, UK) will continue to operate PubEasy, the Global Publishing e-Marketplace, within VISTA International. For the past several months, VISTA International had been exploring options to spin off PubEasy into a separate company. There has been significant interest in the PubEasy business and its business plan. Several investors, both industry and non-industry players, have shown a keen interest and willingness to discuss the PubEasy investment opportunity. However, in the prevailing economic climate, a suitable match to take the separation process forward has not been found.

Peter Clifton, who has been CEO of PubEasy from the onset and who has contributed significantly to building PubEasy to its current prominent position has left the company to pursue other interests.

From an organizational viewpoint Gary Bowman will take over as Chief Operating Officer with overall responsibility for PubEasy operations worldwide. In this capacity, he will report to VISTA International CEO Brian Gibson, who will continue to provide strategic direction and guidance in support of the long-term growth of PubEasy and its service offerings.

Tom Paul, Chairman of PubEasy, and George Hisert, Chief Financial Officer of PubEasy, who have contributed significantly to the evolution of PubEasy’s service offerings, will be working with VISTA International management to transition their existing responsibilities.

VISTA continues to be fully committed to the success and ongoing development of PubEasy as the premier e-business service to the publishing and bookselling communities.

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PubEasy™, the Global Publishing e-Marketplace, represents the new standard in e-commerce for the global bookselling industry. More than 5,100 booksellers in 100+ countries spanning North America, Europe and Asia are using PubEasy to facilitate access to order placement, order tracking, price, title and availability data over the Internet with participating publishers, distributors and wholesalers, more quickly and cost-effectively. Booksellers with a PubEasy password can directly access any participating Affiliate website on the network. The service is available via the Internet twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

In the US, "live" Affiliates include HarperCollins, Random House, Inc., National Book Network and Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC. Other US Affiliate web sites scheduled to launch include AIDC, Broadman & Holman, and Chronicle Books.

In Canada, HarperCollins Canada is scheduled to launch a PubEasy web site.

In the UK, PubEasy Affiliates include HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., Macmillan Distribution Ltd., Penguin UK, TBS/Grantham Book Services, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Gardners Books, Littlehampton Book Services, Marston Book Services, Bookpoint (Hodder Headline) and Airlift Book Company. ITPS is scheduled to launch a PubEasy website.

PubEasy/EXCHANGE™ is the new hosted service for small publishers, distributors and wholesalers.

To access PubEasy, booksellers need a single PubEasy password, a computer with a Web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer 4.0 or later) and an Internet connection. Login to http://www.pubeasy.com and click the 'Register' button to obtain a user ID and password.