<PAGE> 1
EXHIBIT 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kristin Bradfield Caroline Vanderlip
LaForce & Stevens CFN
(212) 242-9353, ext. 187 (212) 366-4600
Barbara Levin Martin Schneider
iClick Health Pages
(415) 453-1608 (212) 505-0103
CONSUMER FINANCIAL NETWORK ACQUIRES ICLICK AND HEALTH
PAGES TO CREATE INDUSTRY'S ONLY COMPLETE
EMPLOYEE-CENTRIC PORTAL SOLUTION
Additional Acquisition of Living Abroad Establishes CFN as Leading Provider of
Integrated Work/Life Self-Service Solutions
ATLANTA, APRIL 18, 2000 - The Consumer Financial Network (CFN), a subsidiary of
iXL Enterprises (NASDAQ: IIXL), today announced three strategic acquisitions,
which, in combination with CFN's iExpert knowledge management system, will
create the industry's most integrated and complete employee-centric portal -
clearly positioning CFN as the leader in the employee portal market.
The acquisitions include:
- iClick - a leading provider of Web-based employee and manager self-service
solutions that integrate with CFN's YouDecide.com marketplace of voluntary
benefits and services.
- Health Pages, the foremost source for health-oriented decision support
tools.
- Living Abroad Publishing, an online provider of content and tools for
corporate relocation needs.
A key challenge of today's employers is attracting and retaining quality
employees, who are working longer hours and balancing the pressures of work and
home. The acquisitions will help CFN provide employers with an integrated,
Web-based solution that addresses these issues by allowing workforce
communities to perform HR, Payroll and Benefits work transactions - and manage
daily life, health and financial needs - from a single, online sign-on.
RECENT FUNDING AND ACQUISITIONS DRIVE ACCELERATION OF INTEGRATED SOLUTION
In late March, CFN received strategic investments totaling $130.5 million,
representing one of the largest rounds of equity funding for an Internet
company. The funding has facilitated CFN's business plan to focus on meeting
employers' work/life self-service needs - with a complete and integrated HR
benefits solution. The three acquisitions add self-service
<PAGE> 2
transactions, content and decision support capabilities giving CFN a
significant competitive advantage in the employee portal market.
"It is clear that today's employers require a single, integrated solution where
employee communities can access, model and take action on the information they
need to do their jobs and manage health, wealth and other life issues - a key
benefit in sealing the employee/employer relationship," said Cathleen Raffaeli,
president and COO of CFN. "As the leader in employee and manager self-service
solutions, with a solid reputation for technology innovation and delivery,
iClick will be at the center of our employee portal offering. In integrating
CFN's robust YouDecide.com health and financial services marketplace with
iClick's powerful self-service solutions, CFN's iExpert knowledge management
system, Health Pages' robust decision support tools and Living Abroad content,
we meet this need now. There is no one else out there that has put the work and
life pieces together like we have - once again expanding CFN's footprint as the
thought and market leader in the employee portal space."
CFN's existing services are being utilized by some of the biggest names in
corporate America, including Delta, GE, Hewlett Packard and USWest. iClick's
customers also include Hewlett Packard, as well as Metropolitan Life, Harris
Bank, Novell and other Fortune 500 companies. The Health Pages service is
provided to 13 million individuals through customized corporate sites including
3M, Chevron, GM, Lucent and Visa. At the close of these acquisitions, CFN will
serve 350 plus companies with more than 15 million employees using one or more
of its B2B portal solutions.
"We're very excited to join forces with CFN. Both companies share the vision of
providing employers with an integrated, work/life-focused portal," said Euan
Menzies, Chairman and CEO of iClick. "iClick has the self-service solution in
place. CFN has YouDecide.com and the industry's most sophisticated portal
architecture and technical infrastructure. The merger therefore provides
significant strategic opportunities for both of our companies, employees and
investors. But the real winners will be our customers - who now have a single,
strong partner to meet their employee self-service needs."
The acquisition of Health Pages will give CFN the premiere online service to
support the most important decisions people make in the healthcare arena -
selecting a health plan, doctor, hospital, or other medical provider. Drawing
from a database that includes nearly every health plan and medical provider in
the country, Health Pages' technology allows individuals to search for and
compare health plans and providers based upon various quality and performance
measures. In addition, Health Pages has a strong and unique heritage of
supporting the needs of corporations and their employees.
Notes Martin Schneider, CEO of Health Pages, "We are excited about joining a
company with a focus so complementary to our own. CFN brings a set of leading
edge technologies, a forward-thinking business orientation and a strong
emphasis on the end user that is highly synergistic with Health Pages."
<PAGE> 3
The addition of Living Abroad Publishing to the CFN portfolio of services
greatly enhances the company's corporate relocation product offering. Living
Abroad is the foremost source for information about visas, work permits,
security, housing, insurance, international schools, taxation, and many other
relocation concerns.
ABOUT CONSUMER FINANCIAL NETWORK
CFN is building the premiere portal for consumer financial and health needs at
work and at home. For corporations, CFN offers a suite of products that give
companies the most flexible and rapidly deployable employee and manager
self-service solution for benefits and HR policies. For consumers, CFN offers
one destination for learning about, applying and transacting for financial
services.
CFN created and launched YouDecide.com (WWW.YOUDECIDE.COM), a sophisticated
e-commerce web site for marketing financial services and related benefits to
individual consumers over the Internet, supported by assistance from trained
consumer advisors, available through email and by phone.
In October 1999, CFN acquired iExpert, the most advanced technology for
personalizing and managing information on benefits and human resource
information over the Web. By drawing on a vast library of HR and benefit
information, and tying this information to individual employee characteristics,
iExpert provides the ability to generate personalized information to the
individual employee level.
ABOUT ICLICK
iClick, headquartered in White Plains, NY, is a pioneer in developing
Web-based, employee-centric portal and self-service solutions. iClick's
ClickHR, the industry's first and most comprehensive suite of Web-based
self-service applications, is licensed by leading Fortune companies including
Metropolitan Life, Hewlett Packard, Harris Bank and Novell.
ABOUT HEALTH PAGES
Health Pages provides the premiere online service to support the most important
decisions people make in the healthcare arena - selecting a health plan,
doctor, hospital, or other medical provider. Drawing from a database that
includes nearly every health plan and medical provider in the country, Health
Pages' technology allows individuals to search for and compare health plans and
providers based upon various quality and performance measures. In addition,
Health Pages has a strong and unique heritage of supporting the needs of
corporations and their employees.
ABOUT LIVING ABROAD
Living Abroad is the foremost source for information about visas, work permits,
security, housing, insurance, international schools, taxation and many other
relocation concerns for corporations both domestically and internationally.
With Affiliate Company and content relationships in more than 80 countries
around the world, Living Abroad serves its client
<PAGE> 4
base of more than 45 major corporations with the broadest content available in
the corporate marketplace.
ABOUT IXL, INC.
iXL, Inc. is a premier Internet consulting firm, offering end-to-end strategic,
creative and technology solutions to businesses. From assessment and design to
rapid implementation, iXL partners with clients to provide integrated Internet
services that bring ideas to action - faster. With more than 20 offices in the
United States, Europe and Japan, iXL is a business unit of iXL Enterprises,
Inc. (NASDAQ: IIXL). For more information, visit http://www.ixl.com.
# # #
