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EXHIBIT 99.1
[HEALTHCENTRAL.COM LOGO]
HealthCentral Signs Agreement to Buy more.com Assets
Gains High-Margin Product Lines and Access to Over 300,000 Online Customers
EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthCentral (Nasdaq: HCEN - news),
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a leading online provider of healthcare e-commerce (www.healthcentralrx.com) and
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content (www.healthcentral.com), today announced it has signed an agreement to
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acquire certain assets of the online health superstore more.com and its
subsidiary Comfort Living, Inc., a 13-year-old home and personal comfort
products distributor acquired by more.com in February 2000. Compared to
traditional drugstore products, Comfort Living products have higher average
ticket prices and higher margins, (www.comfortliving.com), (www.more.com).
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Assets acquired by HealthCentral include all of the assets, properties and
certain liabilities associated with more.com's Comfort Living division including
its website, inventory and a leased 18,000 square foot warehouse and
distribution center in Gaithersburg, MD. HealthCentral also acquired all of
more.com's trademarked names, websites and customer lists, and an affiliate
agreement with PharMor.com and Phar-Mor, Inc. Phar-Mor, Inc. operates a retail
drugstore chain of 140 stores under the names Phar-Mor, Pharmhouse and The Rx
Place in 24 states.
Under the terms of the deal, more.com will receive 5.0 million shares of common
stock from HealthCentral that will not be eligible for sale prior to March 15,
2001. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to compliance with
applicable regulation requirements, is expected to occur in November 2000.
"Although the online health sector is rapidly consolidating, HealthCentral has
consistently demonstrated its ability to increase efficiencies," said Albert
Greene, President, CEO and Director of HealthCentral. "We have picked up
valuable resources that strengthen our business model through cross-selling
opportunities, better buying power and improved distribution costs. Importantly,
we expect no ongoing, incremental cash burn to the Company because of the
acquisition of these assets."
The more.com Comfort Living product lines are represented in four categories
"Breathe Easier," "Sleep Better," "Back Comfort," and "Healthier Home,"
and feature thousands of items ranging from $30 to over $3,000, including
personal comfort products, back pain products, baby products, maternity
products, and an extensive line of allergy control products.
"Our acquisition of the Comfort Living operation complements our recent
acquisition of other relatively high margin product lines. This year we added
vitamins, minerals and supplements from Vitamins.com; reading glasses through
our exclusive license for Dr. Dean Edell Eyewear; contact lenses through an
agreement with Lens First; and additional vision care and other high margin
products through our drugemporium.com acquisition," said Fred Toney, Executive
Vice
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President and Chief Financial Officer of HealthCentral. "more.com also brings
us the opportunity to market to more.com's over 300,000 online customers."
Visitors to the more.com website will be automatically redirected to
HealthCentralRx.com. Vitamins, over-the-counter products and prescription orders
will be fulfilled out of HealthCentral's recently consolidated Louisville
distribution center, while Comfort Living products will continue to be fulfilled
from its existing distribution center in Gaithersburg, MD.
"With the continued consolidation in the e-commerce sector we believe this sale
is in the best interests of our customers and shareholders," said Frank Newman,
CEO of more.com. "By combining the resources of two of the leading players in
the online drugstore arena, customers will be able to continue to shop with
security and privacy, while they maintain uninterrupted access to a wide array
of health, beauty and wellness products on the Web."
The Phar-Mor agreement includes prominently promoting the more.com site and a
unique URL in all of its marketing collateral and other promotional materials
including prescription bags, shopping bags, circulars, print advertising,
Internet and other online advertising, and newsletters and other promotional
emails, and on all of its POS register receipts, that it provides to its
customers. This is in addition to the branding and in-store pick-up arrangement
previously announced by HealthCentral with Drug Emporium Inc., which is expected
to roll out beginning in the fourth quarter of 2000.
This acquisition follows two others recently made by HealthCentral. On June 19,
2000 of this year, the Company acquired Vitamins.com, a leading online and
direct mail provider of vitamins, minerals and supplements (see press release
June 19, 2000). On September 16 of this year HealthCentral acquired certain
assets and certain liabilities of Drug Emporium.com, the Internet subsidiary of
Drug Emporium, Inc., (see press release September 18, 2000). DrugEmporium.com
was recently named the number one online prescription site by Gomez Advisors.
About HealthCentral.com
HealthCentral is a leading provider of healthcare e-commerce and content to
consumers through a network of sites, including HealthCentral.com, Vitamins.com,
HealthCentralRx.com, HealthCentral.ca, and RxList.com, which was recently
recognized as "Best of the Web" by Popular Science Magazine. Currently ranked
by Gomez Advisors as the number one Overall Health Content Site,
HealthCentral.com provides user-friendly interactive tools, customized health
information pages, personalized health risk assessments and topical newsletters.
Together, HealthCentralRx.com and Vitamins.com offer more than 25,000 SKUs of
health, beauty and personal care products. HealthCentral recently acquired
DrugEmporium.com, currently ranked by Gomez as the number one Overall
Prescription Site. HealthCentral.com also acts as an applications service
provider to hospitals, hospital groups and healthcare organizations for health
e-commerce and content.
About more.com and comfortliving.com
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more.com is a leading online health superstore, offering more product selection,
more savings and more convenience to consumers looking for a fundamentally
better way to shop. With a wide variety of health, beauty and wellness products
-- all located at one place and at low prices -- more.com increases the
convenience and cost advantages of buying online. Acquired by more.com in
February 2000, Comfort Living was founded in 1986 as Allergy Home Care Products
and opened its online store in 1995. Comfort Living offers personal comfort
products, back pain products, baby products, maternity products, and an
extensive line of allergy control products. In addition, more.com provides in-
depth, objective information on health issues and products to assist shoppers in
selecting the right products -- making it easier for them to care for themselves
and their families. Founded in January 1998, the company is headquartered in San
Francisco, California.
Forward Looking Statements
Except for historical information, the statements in this news release are
forward-looking statements, involving risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking
statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
the Company's limited operating history and need to generate revenues, the
substantial competition in the ehealth market, possible liability related to
content on or accessed through the Company's Web sites, our likely need to raise
additional capital in the future the need to build a brand name quickly, the
effect of substantial and changing government regulation, possible systems
interruptions, a failure to integrate acquisitions or manage growth, and a
failure to attract and retain key employees. Further information regarding these
and other risks is included in HealthCentral.com's Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1999, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2000 and its
other filings with the Security and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: financial, Robin Raborn, Director of Investor Relations, 510-250-3852,
or [email protected], or media, Joanne Papini, Director of Public
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Relations, 510-250-3860, or [email protected], both of
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HealthCentral.com; or Frank Newman, CEO of more.com, 415-844-0524, or
[email protected].
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