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EXHIBIT 1
Contacts: Traci VanHorn Suzanne Marcarelli
FairMarket, Inc. LNS Communications
[email protected] [email protected]
781-376-5615 617-577-9777
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FAIRMARKETSM NAMES FORMER LOTUS EXECUTIVE AS PRESIDENT AND CEO
EILEEN RUDDEN, 24-YEAR INDUSTRY VETERAN TAKES THE HELM AS
COMPANY FOUNDER, SCOTT RANDALL BECOMES CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
WOBURN, MASS., Aug 30, 2000 -- FairMarket, Inc. ( Nasdaq: FAIM), a leading
provider of outsourced, online selling solutions, today announced that Eileen
Rudden, 24-year industry veteran and former Lotus executive, will join the
company as president and CEO on September 11. Rudden succeeds Scott Randall,
FairMarket founder, who will become chairman of the board of directors.
Along with his new responsibilities as chairman, Randall will continue active
involvement in the company, working with Rudden on strategic corporate
initiatives, business partnerships and global expansion.
In her role as president and CEO, Rudden will lead all aspects of the company
from overall strategy to day-to-day operations. Additionally, Rudden has been
elected a director of the company, effective September 11, by a unanimous vote
of the board of directors. She will replace Jeff Drazan, a partner in Sierra
Ventures, an early FairMarket investor.
"We are extremely pleased to bring on a proven leader who has built such widely
recognized brands as those from Lotus," said Scott Randall, FairMarket founder.
"Eileen has demonstrated that she is able to build, grow and market highly
successful products and companies. Her sound ability to provide strategic
direction and execute on operational plans will allow us to bring FairMarket to
the next level in our company's development."
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Prior to joining FairMarket, Rudden had a highly successful career at Lotus that
spanned 14 years. She held many leadership positions during her tenure that
directly impacted revenue growth and created market leadership for Lotus. Most
recently, she led the worldwide Notes business as senior vice president of the
Communications Products Division. During her tenure, Notes grew from 2 million
to more than 50 million end users and established itself as the leading
enterprise email and collaboration software product. She also served as vice
president of product marketing and vice president of business alliances.
"I am extremely excited about the opportunities ahead. FairMarket is a company
with market-leading customers, proven technology and a team of highly skilled
employees and executives," said the newly-appointed Rudden. "Our goals are to
quickly become profitable, increase shareholder value, grow our customer base of
well-known brands, and expand the technology offerings needed to lead the market
as an outsourced provider of e-commerce solutions. It is my charter to drive
every initiative that will allow us to achieve those goals."
"I am pleased that Eileen has joined FairMarket as president and CEO. Her
experience and success at building great software and service organizations at
Lotus is a perfect complement to Scott's strategic leadership abilities," said
Jeff Drazan, general partner of Sierra Ventures. "Resigning my position as
director, I will have more time to focus my efforts on the newly raised $500
Million Sierra Ventures VIII Fund, and to continue to cultivate companies from
inception to positions of industry leadership as we did with FairMarket."
ABOUT FAIRMARKET
FairMarket, Inc. is the leading provider of outsourced, online, distributed
selling solutions, including hosted auction, falling price, and
shopping-by-request services. The company helps businesses generate online
revenue by expanding e-commerce functionality and strengthening brand
recognition. In the U.S., the FairMarket Networksm includes the some of the
world's leading portals and vendors on the Web with the potential to reach
millions of online shoppers. The company has offices in the U.K. and Australia
and is headquartered in Woburn, Mass. Corporate information can be obtained on
the Web at WWW.FAIRMARKET.COM, by calling 800-531-7871, or through the investor
hotline at 1-877-4IR-FAIM.
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This press release contains information about future expectations, plans and
prospects of FairMarket, Inc. that constitute forward-looking statements for
purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by
these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors
including but not limited to FairMarket's limited operating history; market
acceptance of online auction and other e-commerce services; growth of the market
for dynamic e-commerce services; the competitive nature of the online markets in
which FairMarket operates; currency, regulatory and other risks associated with
expansion into international markets; FairMarket's ability to retain existing
customers and to obtain new customers; the operation and capacity of
FairMarket's network system infrastructure; FairMarket's ability to attract and
retain qualified personnel; and the other risks and uncertainties discussed
under the heading "Risk Factors" in FairMarket's Registration Statement on Form
S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 14, 2000 in
connection with FairMarket's initial public offering and the other reports filed
by FairMarket from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
FairMarket assumes no obligation to update any of the information included in
this press release.
