Digital Island Acquires Live On Line for $70 Million

Digital Island (http://www.digitalisland.net) announced that it has acquired Live On Line, Inc. ( http://www.liveonline.net), a provider of live and on-demand streaming media services.

The transaction is valued at approximately $70 million in cash and stock, based on the closing price of Digital Island shares on January 18, 2000.

"Our customers have indicated that rich media fills a critical need in their global e-Business strategies as they seek new and competitive ways to do business on the Internet," said Ruann F. Ernst, chairman and CEO of Digital Island. "We believe that transactive multimedia, or the ability to complement streaming media with transactional capabilities, is a powerful fusion of technologies that will give consumers today capabilities that they only dreamed of before. Augmenting rich media with the ability to consummate a sale anywhere in the world increases the value of that media significantly."

This comes on the heels of yesterday's announcement by Akamai that it was acquiring webcaster Network24.

Digital Island's content delivery accepts all major formats, including QuickTime, RealAudio G2 and RealVideo G2, the Microsoft Windows Media.

The Live On Line group will be incorporated into Digital Island's Professional Service Organization. Adam Cohen, CEO of Live On Line, was appointed Digital Island's vice president of streaming, live events. Debra LaChance, Live On Line president, will become Digital Island's vice president of streaming production and operations.

Live On Line's customers include American Express, Apple Computer, Arista Records, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Comedy Central, Continental Airlines, Eastman Kodak, Edelman Worldwide, Fox.com, Home Box Office, Microsoft, MTV and RealNetworks. So far, Live On Line has booked more than 300 live events for 2000.