“TheMarkets.com” to be a single-source destination for access to institutional equity research, new issue information, news, and market data
New York, September 12, 2000 - In a move to establish a new platform to communicate proprietary equity information, seven of the world’s largest investment banks - The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (NYSE: MWD), Salomon Smith Barney (NYSE: C), Credit Suisse First Boston (SWX:CSGN.SW), Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, and UBS Warburg (NYSE: UBS) - today announced an agreement to create “TheMarkets.com,” an information-rich portal for institutional investors that offers commingled equity research, new issue information, news, and market data, as well as easy direct-access to the proprietary web-sites of the participants.
Scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2000, TheMarkets.com will use state-of-the-art technology expertise from within the members’ organizations and from third parties. Multex.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLTX) was selected to be the Application Service Provider (ASP) for the site, providing the technological infrastructure and web hosting services. Relationships may be established with other leading technology firms to provide institutional investors with the best and most convenient informational portal.
TheMarkets.com will provide institutional investors with real-time commingled equity research, news, and market data at a single site, eliminating the need to visit several disparate sites. TheMarkets.com will also provide a calendar of equity new issue information. One password will provide investors seamless access to a respective firm’s web-site where detailed information will be available. Comprehensive personalization tools will permit portfolio managers, analysts, and other clients to organize, prioritize, and filter the vast amount of information that comes their way daily.
TheMarkets.com will enhance the client experience in a variety of ways. Summary views of proprietary content will be provided on a company-by-company basis, including recommendations, price targets, actual and forecasted earnings estimates, and other key valuation metrics. Market news and data will be linked to other services, so that TheMarkets.com provides trading and news histories when research has been published. Proprietary research will be augmented with multimedia presentations to enhance content.
“The firms developed TheMarkets.com to meet our institutional clients’ needs and desires for easy access to key research and market information on a real-time basis. TheMarkets.com’s robust web-based system and content will help facilitate the investment decision process for our institutional clients,” said Steven Mnuchin, Global Head of E-Commerce and Co-Head of Technology Operating Committee, Goldman Sachs.
“With TheMarkets.com we move beyond traditional delivery options and harness Internet technology to help our clients work more productively. Aggregating the firms’ global resources in a single flexible and convenient portal will enable them to act more quickly and efficiently,” said Thomas Joyce, Co-Head of Global Electronic Equity Trading at Merrill Lynch.
“This information portal will take advantage of the new and emerging deep personalization tools that will allow us to deliver tailored information about markets, companies, and deals, filtered the way they want to see it. The intent is to eliminate the information overload and provide the clarion view,” added Don Callahan, Managing Director - Equity.com, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
“We expect TheMarkets.com to dramatically change the institutional marketplace, becoming the premier source of information for leading investment institutions globally,” concluded William R. Harts, Managing Director, Global Equity eCommerce Group, Salomon Smith Barney.
“We are pleased to be able to support the investment banks involved in TheMarkets.com in delivering an innovative new equity information platform to their clients,” said Jim Tousignant, President of Multex.com. “This represents another significant achievement for our web hosting business and extends our leadership position in the ASP market within the financial industry.”
TheMarkets.com will be a complimentary value-added service to institutions that currently have access to each firm’s web-site.
TheMarkets.com will be structured as a Limited Liability Company (LLC). A Client Advisory Board is in the process of being formed, and a search for a Chief Executive Officer is underway.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is a leading global investment banking and securities firm, providing a full range of investing, advisory and financing services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, which includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The Firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.
Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) is one of the world’s leading financial management and advisory companies with offices in 43 countries and total client assets of about $1.8 trillion. As an investment bank, it is the top global underwriter and market maker of debt and equity securities and a leading strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, the company is one of the world’s largest managers of financial assets. For more information on Merrill Lynch, go to www.ml.com.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. (NYSE: MWD) is a preeminent global financial services company and a market leader in securities, asset management, and credit services. The company’s top-ranked research along with world class product origination, asset management and other extensive resources create a unique combination of capabilities that provide both individual and institutional clients with access to the most comprehensive array of high quality products and services in the financial services industry today. The Company has offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other principal financial centers around the world, and has 506 branch offices serving individual investors throughout the United States.
Citigroup’s Global Corporate and Investment Bank brings together Citibank, the world’s most global corporate bank, and Salomon Smith Barney, a leading global investment bank and securities brokerage firm. Together they provide complete financial solutions to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals in 100 countries. Award-winning businesses include corporate and investment banking services, investment advice, financial planning and commercial insurance products.
Citigroup (NYSE:C), the most global financial services company, provides some 100 million consumers, corporations, governments and institutions in 100 countries with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage and asset management. The 1998 merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group brought together such brand names as Citibank, Travelers, Salomon Smith Barney, Commercial Credit (now named CitiFinancial), and Primerica under Citigroup’s trademark red umbrella. Additional information may be found www.citigroup.com.
Credit Suisse First Boston (SWX:CSGN.SW), is a leading global investment banking firm, providing comprehensive financial advisory, capital raising, sales and trading, and financial products for wholesale users and suppliers of capital around the world. It operates in 55 offices across more than 36 countries and six continents and has over 16,000 staff. Credit Suisse First Boston is one of the world’s largest securities firms in terms of financial resources, with approximately $9.8 billion in revenues in 1999 and $7.8 billion in equity and $275 billion in assets as of December 31, 1999. The Firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group. For more information on Credit Suisse First Boston, please visit our website at www.csfb.com.
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown identifies the US investment banking activities of DB Alex. Brown LLC (formerly BT Alex. Brown Incorporated) and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., which are indirect subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank AG. With over EUR925 billion in assets as of June 30, 2000 and approximately 90,000 employees, Deutsche Bank offers its clients unparalleled financial services throughout the world. It ranks among the leaders in asset management, capital markets, corporate finance, custody, cash management and private banking. Deutsche Bank is divided into five major business units: Global Corporates and Institutions, Global Technology and Services, Asset Management, Corporates and Real Estates and Private and Retail Banking.
UBS Warburg (NYSE: UBS) is the global investment banking, securities and wealth management business of UBS AG, one of the largest financial services organizations in the world. UBS Warburg specializes in delivering market-leading advisory, research, distribution and transaction execution services to corporate, institutional and private clients globally. UBS Warburg meets its clients’ needs through seven leading business areas: corporate finance; equities; fixed income; private banking; private equity (through UBS Capital); treasury products and, imminently, e-services. Well known for technical innovation, UBS Warburg’s initiatives in connectivity, straight through processing and real time delivery include individualized online research, advisory and transaction services for institutional and private clients. In January 2000, UBS Warburg were joint lead managers on the first ever bond to be marketed and subscribed via the internet, using their DebtWeb tm facility, one of a suite of e-commerce sites developed entirely in-house.
Multex.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLTX) is the Internet’s leading financial e-marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of financial services. Multex.com is a global company that provides information and commerce enabling technology and infrastructure, application services, Web hosting and online community services to the major financial marketplace participants: brokerage firms, investment banks, corporations, and individual and institutional investors. The company focuses on three core business areas: Business-to-Business (B2B), which provides real-time, Web-based financial applications and information to institutional investors and other financial institutions; Application Service Provider (ASP), which develops, hosts and operates websites and portals for financial institutions, enabling them to connect to their clients; and Business-to-Consumer (B2C), which provides financial applications and information to individual investors through a network of branded and affiliate websites.
Multex.com serves this fast-growing and diverse marketplace through a number of industry leading brands, including: MultexNET, ® a subscription/transaction based, real-time, online service providing financial information from more than 750 firms such as Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney and Robertson Stephens to more than 10,000 buy-side firms and nearly 35,000 subscribers; MultexEXPRESS, SM a Web-development and hosting business with more than 100 sites serving more than 2 million users; BuzzPower, industry leading e-community software; and Multex Investor, SM Sage Online and Market Guide, Multex.com’s individual investor sites, which have attracted more than 2 million unique visitors. Multex.com has more than 500 information and distribution partners including: Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, AOL, Yahoo!, Quicken.com, CBS MarketWatch and CNNfn.com.
Contact: Matt Zachowski or Dorien van Boven, Trimedia Inc.
Tel. (212) 888-6115 x228 or x231
matt@trimediapr.com;
dorien@trimediapr.com
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