FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GARDEN.COM ANNOUNCES PHASED SHUT-DOWN OF THE COMPANY'S
RETAIL OPERATIONS AND SALE OF ITS ASSETS
COMPANY TO CONTINUE TO SEEK AND EVALUATE STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES FOR ITS
TECHNOLOGY ASSETS IN CONNECTION WITH TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT
AUSTIN, Texas - (November 15, 2000) - Garden.com(TM) (NASDAQ: GDEN)
(www.garden.com), a leading Internet-based retailer of gardening products,
information and services, today announced that it will begin a phased shut-down
of the company's retail operations and the sale of its consumer business assets,
including product inventory, URLs, content, photo library, its popular online
gardening tools such as Landscape Planner and Plant Finder, as well as other
intellectual property. In conjunction with this announcement and in an effort
to maximize the value of the company's assets, Garden.com will continue to
evaluate strategic alternatives for its technology assets.
Also announced today, Garden.com will conduct a phased layoff of its consumer
business employee base. The company plans to phase the layoff in order to most
effectively conduct a "going out of business" product inventory sale to
consumers, and expects to manage the sale with the same high-quality levels of
service its customers have come to expect and rely upon.
This announcement follows Garden.com's extensive and comprehensive efforts to
find strategic alternatives for the company through both financial investors and
strategic partnerships. As early as the Spring of 2000, the company had
consulted with Robertson-Stephens to aide in an aggressive effort to evaluate
its strategic alternatives, including additional funding, sale of the company
and/or partnerships, to most effectively continue its consumer business. After
it became apparent that there were no companies or investors interested in
Garden.com as a full going concern, the company officially announced a strategic
review of its alternatives, naming Robertson Stephens as its investment banker
for that process. While that search included contacts with several interesting
prospects, none were prepared to fund or acquire the company. Garden.com has
also worked diligently over the past several months to reduce operating expenses
through company restructuring efforts and refocused marketing programs, and to
increase business efficiencies to extend the timeframe during which it could
find and evaluate strategic alternatives.
"I deeply regret that Garden.com is unable to see through the vision we started
nearly five years ago," said Cliff Sharples, president and CEO of Garden.com.
"Despite every best effort by the company and its management to rebuild
stockholder value and ensure a future for Garden.com's consumer business, all
possible avenues have been exhausted and it is clear that the only course of
action available to us is to conduct a staged shut-down of our retail
operations. We believe a phased shut-down of the company's consumer business
operations, as well as our continued efforts to maximize the company's
technology assets, serve as the best course of action in light of our current
situation."
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"We believe that Garden.com was instrumental in helping to create the online
gardening market and continue to believe that the Internet will be an effective
retail channel in the long-term," continued Sharples. "Garden.com would like to
thank our more than 1.5 million members and customers for their loyalty, their
support and belief in the company. We hope everyone enjoyed their experience
with us and that they continue to find new and better ways to be successful in
all their gardening endeavors. In addition, we would like to thank our suppliers
for their strong support of our business over the years, commitment to quality
and for being valuable business partners. The overwhelming support and
encouragement we received from our customers and suppliers has been instrumental
in fueling our passion for this business over the past five years."
Sharples went on to say, "My co-founders and team continue to believe in the
power of the Internet to fundamentally create unique and distinct value for all
consumers. I am deeply saddened to see the most talented, dedicated,
hard-working team I have ever had the pleasure to work with be disbanded. I
believe that Garden.com has served as one of the innovators in this rapidly
unfolding industry, consistently garnishing top awards and customer loyalty. It
could not have been possible without every member of my team's creativity and
vision, and I'd like to personally thank each and every one of them for their
extraordinary efforts."
Third parties interested in purchasing company assets may contact Joel Toner
either by phone at 512-532-4233 or via e-mail at [email protected].
ABOUT GARDEN.COM
-----------------
Founded in December of 1995, Garden.com is a leading resource for consumers in
the $47 billion home gardening market. Through its flagship website,
garden.com, and a company branded catalog, Garden.com provides consumers a
one-stop-shop through which they can access a wide variety of gardening
information and services, purchase gardening and garden-related products, and
interact with an online gardening community. The company's core online
property, www.garden.com, offers gardeners an unsurpassed collection of
high-quality gardening supplies and garden-inspired gifts, seasonally inspired
magazine content, professional advice, and garden design software.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Garden.com has offices in California and Iowa.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
----------------------------
This document contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other
things, the phased shut-down of the Company's retail business, the sale of the
Company's consumer business assets, the Company's strategy to evaluate strategic
alternatives for its technology assets and other matters relating to the
Company's expectations and strategies regarding the future. Statements made in
this document that are forward-looking are based on our current expectations and
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially
from those expressed. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited
to, the Company's ability to find qualified buyers for its consumer business
assets, the Company's ability to find beneficial strategic alternatives for its
technology assets, the Company's ability to develop, commercialize and license
or sell TRELLIS or any of its other technology assets, and the Company's ability
to generate sufficient cash, through the liquidation of its assets or otherwise,
to satisfy its current and
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future obligations. Garden.com may not be able to consummate the sale of its
assets in time to generate meaningful value. In addition, Garden.com may not be
able to negotiate the orderly wind down of its obligations to creditors. These
include, without limitation, long term contractual payment and performance
obligations associated with Garden.com's e-commerce platform building and
facilities leases, business agreements with third parties, and agreements with
vendors. As a result of these and other risks, Garden.com may not be able to
generate meaningful cash, or any cash, which could be returned to its
stockholders, and the timing of any distribution is uncertain at this time.
Garden.com does not undertake any obligations to publicly update any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on
which any such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events. These and other factors and risks are set forth in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited
to the Company's report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2000. Copies
of these filings may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.
-end-
Garden.com and Garden Escape are trademarks of Garden.com, Inc.
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