W3 Data More Than Doubles Revenue and Profit in 2004

W3 Data More Than Doubles Revenue and Profit in 2004

Record Year Marked by Significant Financial Growth for Fourth Consecutive Year, Launch of Contact Management Service, and International Expansion

SEATTLE, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- W3 Data, Inc., a leading provider of online directory assistance services, today announced 2004 year end results, growing revenue 125% and earnings 140%. Increased advertising revenue, key partnerships, international expansion, introduction of the company's contact management service, the acquisition of 411.com and growth of the W3 Data Solutions division, contributed to the company's significant growth. This marks the fourth consecutive year that W3 Data has more than doubled revenue and profit.

W3 Data serves millions of users each month through its Consumer Services and Data Solutions divisions. Consumer Services operates the WhitePages.com Network, comprised of WhitePages.com, WhitePages.ca, PhoneNumber.com and 411.com. The WhitePages.com Network offers consumers a fast, easy, and free way to find personal and business contact information, and powers the white pages sections of over 1,300 partners. W3 Data's Data Solutions division offers a robust set of tools and directory assistance data sources to meet the varying needs of a broad range of businesses.

"W3 Data's continued growth demonstrates our unwavering commitment to meeting the needs of consumers, advertisers, partners and businesses," said Max Bardon, president and CEO of W3 Data. "With the launch of our contact management service, we're moving beyond directory assistance to serve the larger contact information needs of our users. We'll continue to strengthen our position as the leading destination for the most accurate, online contact information by delivering unparalleled value across our business and consumer services."

Consumer Services

Over the last year, the WhitePages.com Network grew site traffic by 83% with 1.5 billion page views, a 75% increase over 2003. Site traffic from partners nearly doubled, and the company's partner base grew from 700 to over 1,300, including several of the major telecommunications companies in the United States. Market share in Canada was expanded through a partnership with the Yellow Pages Group, which when combined with the company's existing Canadian traffic, helped the company secure 75% of the Canadian online residential directory assistance market. W3 Data also acquired 411.com, providing increased traffic to the WhitePages.com Network. At the end of 2004, the WhitePages.com Network provided over 165 million white pages listings in the US and Canada.

To further spur its growth, the WhitePages.com Network launched a cleaner site and launched a new set of services. As part of the site redesign, the company removed several ad placements, resulting in a significant ROI increase for advertisers. The redesign, combined with WhitePages.com Network's proven results, led the company to double its number of advertisers. The company added several marquee names to its list of new partners, including Blockbuster, Vonage, Best Buy and AOL. WhitePages.com's other top advertising partners include Allstate, Classmates.com, Match.com, TMP.com and Intelius. To position the company for continued growth in 2005, W3 Data opened an ad sales office in New York last December.

WhitePages.com Network introduced MyInfo, a new set of services designed to help users manage their contact information. MyInfo services includes MyInfo AddressBook, a new online address book, and ContactsManager, a free downloadable software program that provides a fast, easy and secure way to keep contact information current. The program quickly synchronizes a user's MyInfo AddressBook with Microsoft Outlook(R), and enables users to obtain up- to-date contact information from friends, family and business contacts. The company also improved search functionality by adding a metro-area search option.

Almost half of all Internet users look up telephone numbers online, making it one of the most popular online activities.* With traditional directory assistance queries costing on average $1.25-$2.50 per look-up,** consumers are increasingly turning to online resources to find and manage contact information. Last year, the WhitePages.com Network provided 716 million directory assistance searches, saving consumers close to $1 billion. The WhitePages Network is ranked a top three directory resource-exclusive site with over 8 million monthly unique visitors.

Data Solutions

In addition to a more than 300% increase in revenue, 2004 marked a year of expansion for the Data Solutions division. Patrick Kirtland joined the company as vice president of Data Solutions, where he drives strategy for providing directory assistance and contact information solutions for businesses. Kirtland brings strong online commerce, business development and product development experience from Cranium and Microsoft where he led the team responsible for developing the initial business model to support the company's vision of "software as a service."

BatchAppend411 continues to amass a dedicated following as the self-serve data appending product of choice for small to medium-sized businesses. In 2004, Data Solutions saw a 350% increase in the number of BatchAppend411 jobs run over the previous year at an unmatched average processing time of under 20 minutes. Data Solutions also won a large-volume appending contract for one of the nation's largest home services businesses. Praising Data Solutions for its flexibility, resourcefulness and quick turn-around, this customer received contact information appended for millions of records.

In November 2004, Data Solutions launched a set of major enhancements to its easy-to-use list generation product, Prospect411. Prospect411 serves as an integral part of the direct marketing efforts for thousands of small to medium sized businesses.

About W3 Data, Inc.

W3 Data, Inc. (www.w3data.com) is a leading independent provider of online directory assistance services to consumers and businesses of all sizes. The company serves millions of customers every month and is focused on delivering useful cost-effective services and tools to help find and identify personal and business contact information. The W3 Data Consumer Services Group provides free search capabilities via the WhitePages.com Network, which comprises WhitePages.com, WhitePages.ca, 411.com and PhoneNumber.com. W3 Data also provides private label solutions powering the directory assistance sections of more than 1,300 Internet partners, including numerous major North American telephone service companies. Founded in 1997, W3 Data, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Seattle, WA.

* The Pew Internet & American Life Project
** Pierz Group

Contact:

Karli Overmier, Barokas Public Relations, 206-264-8220, karli@barokas.com
Tiffany West, WhitePages.com, 206-973-5180, twest@whitepages.com


Source: W3 Data, Inc.

CONTACT: Karli Overmier of Barokas Public Relations, +1-206-264-8220, or
karli@barokas.com, for W3 Data, Inc.; or Tiffany West of WhitePages.com,
+1-206-973-5180, or twest@whitepages.com

Web site: http://www.w3data.com/


-------
Profile: intent