<PAGE>
EXHIBIT 99.2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LERNOUT & HAUSPIE ANNOUNCES BOARD AND MANAGEMENT CHANGES
PIEPER NAMED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD; CEO DUERDEN NAMED SOLE MANAGING DIRECTOR;
NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED
IEPER, BELGIUM, BURLINGTON, MASS. NOVEMBER 9, 2000 The Board of Directors
of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products n.v. (NASDAQ: LHSP, EASDAQ: LHSP) (`L&H' or
`the Company'), a world leader in speech and language technology, products and
services, today announced several steps towards resolving recent controversies
affecting the Company and to maintain its leadership position in the emerging
speech and language technology markets.
John Duerden, appointed Chief Executive Officer of L&H on August 24, 2000, has
become sole Managing Director by unanimous Board resolution. Duerden has also
been asked to strengthen the management team, including the appointment of a new
Chief Financial Officer. Carl Dammekens, the current CFO, will be taking on
another position within the Company.
"In light of the ongoing investigation by the US Securities and Exchange
Commission, I remain committed to a policy of full and complete transparency and
cooperation," said Duerden. "The Board has vested in me sole discretion to
appoint and retain on behalf of the Company such legal and investigative
services as may be required."
Roel Pieper, formerly Vice-Chairman of L&H, has been appointed Chairman of the
Board. Pieper is a general partner of New York-based Insight Capital Partners
and has served as Chief Executive Officer of Tandem Computer Inc. and as
Executive Vice President of Royal Philips Electronics.
The Company's two founders, Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie have stepped down from
their positions as co-Chairmen and Managing Directors. Lernout will now serve as
Vice Chairman of the L&H Board of Directors and will chair the Company's
Technology Advisory Committee. For medical reasons, Hauspie has taken a leave of
absence from his responsibilities as a Board director. Also stepping down as
Managing Director is Nico Willaert. He will remain on the Board of Directors.
In a joint statement Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie said: "L&H faces different
challenges today as a global leader in speech and language technologies than it
did in its entrepreneurial stage, and we are certain that these management
changes are appropriate for a company of this size and stage of development."
The Board also announced the establishment of a new Executive Committee,
consisting of Pieper, Duerden, Lernout, and one other independent director, to
be announced shortly. The Executive Committee will advise management on a range
of issues.
"Roel and I believe these changes will enable us to build upon our strong
position in the speech and language technology markets and to restore investor
confidence," said Duerden. "I would like to thank the Board, and in particular
Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie for their support in developing the new structure."
<PAGE>
ABOUT LERNOUT & HAUSPIE
Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) is a global leader in advanced speech and language
solutions for vertical markets, computers, automobiles, telecommunications,
embedded products, consumer goods and the Internet. The company is making the
speech user interface (SUI) the keystone of simple, convenient interaction
between humans and technology, and is using advanced translation technology to
break down language barriers. The company provides a wide range of offerings,
including: customized solutions for corporations; core speech technologies
marketed to OEMs; end user and retail applications for continuous speech
products in horizontal and vertical markets; and document creation, human and
machine translation services, Internet translation offerings, and linguistic
tools. L&H's products and services originate in four basic areas: automatic
speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), digital speech and music
compression (SMC) and text-to-text (translation).
This Press Release contains forward-looking information that involves risks and
uncertainties, including statements about the company's plans, objectives,
expectations and intentions. Readers are cautioned that forward looking
statements include known and unknown risks, including uncertainty of new product
development, the risk that newly introduced products may contain undetected
errors or defects or otherwise not perform as anticipated, early state of
development of the speech, language and medical information technology markets,
the ability of L&H's customers to successfully integrate and commercialise L&H's
technology, the company's ability to successfully integrate the operations of
Dictaphone and Dragon, the retention of key technical and other personnel, risks
associated with the financial leverage associated with the company's assumption
and/or repayment of Dictaphone indebtedness, currency and other risks related to
international operations, rapid technological change and intense competition, as
well as other risks set forth in L&H's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the
date of this Press Release.
L&H is a trademark of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. in the United
States and/or other countries. All other product names or trademarks referenced
herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
# # #
L&H CONTACT INFO:
Corporate Comm US / Europe: Ron Schuermans, Lernout & Hauspie, 32-57-22-8888,
[email protected]
---------------------
Media Contact US: 781-203-5344
Corporate Comm AP: Geraldine Kan, Lernout & Hauspie, 65-799-8956,
[email protected]
Investor Relations: Allan Forsey, Lernout & Hauspie, (781) 203-5233,
[email protected]
----------------
Steffan Williams, Thomson Financial/Carson,
+44-20-7369-7269
