EXHIBIT 99.1 - PRESS RELEASE
SpaceDev Adds Curt Blake to Board of Directors
POWAY, Calif. - September 6, 2000 - SpaceDev, Inc. (OTCBB:SPDV), the world's
first publicly traded commercial space exploration and development company,
today announced that Mr. Curt Blake of the Seattle area has been added to
SpaceDev's Board of Directors. Mr. Blake joins Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, former
head of NASA's Office of Space Sciences and now laboratory Director of the
Carnegie Institute of Washington, DC, as an independent director on SpaceDev's
Board.
Mr. Blake brings to the SpaceDev Board years of top-level experience in rapid
growth, high-tech media-related companies. Mr. Blake's strengths include media
deal negotiation, corporate strategy, intellectual property rights, mergers and
acquisitions and public company legal experience.
"We are very excited that Curt has joined our Board of Directors," said Jim
Benson, Chairman and CEO of SpaceDev. "We are striving to put together a "Great
Group" of stellar people which can far exceed expectations of ordinary groups.
Success requires talent, and we are lucky in being able to attract top talent to
SpaceDev. Curt is top talent, and I believe SpaceDev will greatly profit from
his expert advice and assistance."
"I am honored to accept this appointment to the SpaceDev Board," said Mr. Blake.
"I have long been interested in space exploration, and to be able to assist an
innovative young company that brings a pragmatic and profit driven mindset to
this new field is very exciting."
As the COO of the Starwave Corporation from 1993 until 1999, Mr. Blake managed
business development, finance, legal and business affairs, and operations for
the world's most successful collection of content sites on the Internet. He
developed business strategies, financial models, and structured and negotiated
venture agreements for Starwave's flagship site, ESPN Sportszone, at that time
the highest traffic destination site on the Internet. He also developed and
negotiated venture agreements with the NBA, NFL, Outside Magazine and NASCAR to
create sites around these brands. Mr. Blake negotiated sale of controlling
interest in Starwave Corporation to Disney/ABC (NYSE:DIS).
Prior to Starwave, Mr. Blake worked at Corbis, where he led the acquisitions and
licensing effort to fulfill Bill Gates' vision of creating the largest taxonomic
database of digital images in the world. Mr. Blake acted as General Counsel to
Aldus Corporation (now NASDAQ:ADBE) from 1989 to 1992, where he was responsible
for all legal matters of the $125 million public corporation and its
subsidiaries. Prior to that, Mr. Blake was an attorney at Shidler, McBroom,
Gates and Lucas, during which time he was assigned for five years as onsite
counsel to the Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT) where he was primarily
responsible for the domestic OEM/Product Support and Systems Software divisions,
in addition to licensing, software acquisition and joint venture agreements for
certain products. He frequently addressed issues relating to anti-trust,
intellectual property, and international trade regulations law.
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About SpaceDev. SpaceDev offers low-cost commercial missions and spacecraft for
earth and lunar orbiters, Mars orbiters and probe carriers, and asteroid
rendezvous and landers. We believe SpaceDev's sale of turnkey, fixed-price,
commercial space products is a leading edge innovation for the space industry.
SpaceDev offers fixed-price package delivery for science instruments and
technology demonstrations into earth orbit and deep space and to other planetary
bodies. SpaceDev and The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), announced this year that
they have teamed together to investigate opportunities of mutual strategic
interest in the commercial deep-space arena, including a variety of small,
low-cost, private deep-space mission initiatives formulated by SpaceDev.
Established in 1997, SpaceDev (http://www.spacedev.com) is the world's first
publicly traded commercial space exploration and development company. SpaceDev's
offices are located near San Diego in Poway, California.
For More information, contact Jim Benson - 858.375.2020
This news release may contain forward-looking statements concerning the
Company's business and future prospects and other similar statements that do not
concern matters of historical fact. Forward-looking statements relating to
product development, business prospects and development of a commercial market
for technological advances are based on the Company's current expectations. The
Company's current expectations are subject to all of the uncertainties and risks
customarily associated with new business ventures including, but not limited to,
market conditions, successful product development and acceptance, competition
and overall economic conditions, as well as the risk of adverse regulatory
actions. The Company's actual results may differ materially from current
expectations. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly
these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or for any other reason.
