<PAGE>
EXHIBIT 99.1
PRESS RELEASE DATED OCTOBER 20, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
---------------------
QUANTUM NORTH AMERICA, INC. FILES CHAPTER 11,
AND UNITED KINGDOM SUBSIDIARY SEEKS ADMINISTRATION
LOS ANGELES, California - October 20, 2000 - e4L, Inc. (NYSE: "ETV") today
announced that its wholly-owned United States Subsidiary, Quantum North America,
Inc. (d/b/a, e4L North America) ("QNA") filed a voluntary petition for relief
under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States
Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
e4L further announced today that its wholly-owned United Kingdom
subsidiary, Quantum International Limited ("QIL") filed a petition in the High
Court of Justice, Chancery Division Companies Court in the United Kingdom (the
"Court") seeking a grant of an administrative order. Upon filing of the
administrative proceedings with the Court, QIL will operate under
administration, whereby an administrator will be retained by QIL for the purpose
of either reorganizing or liquidating QIL's business for the benefit of
creditors.
e4L further announced that it will attempt to seek debtor-in-possession
financing from its senior lender, Foothill Capital Corporation, in order to fund
QNA's Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings. In addition, e4L and QNA anticipate
that they will agree to the appointment of John Grigsby and Associates, Inc., a
financial advisory and turnaround firm.
As previously announced on October 11, 2000, e4L had retained Direct
Marketing Services Group, LLC to provide, among other things, daily operational
and financial management services for e4L's United States direct response
business.
The Chapter 11 filing of QNA and administrative proceeding of QIL are not
expected to impact e4L's businesses in the Pacific Rim and Asia.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding potential
future events and developments affecting e4L's business. e4L wishes to take
advantage of certain ``safe harbor'' provisions regarding forward-looking
statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to, (i.) projections of revenues, income or loss, profitability, earnings or
loss per share and other financial indicators, (ii.) statements of plans or
objectives of management or Board of Directors, including the potential sale of
its Austral-Asian businesses and (iii.) other statements about the direct
response or electronic commerce industries. e4L's ability to predict projected
results or the effect of certain events on e4L's results of operations is
inherently uncertain. Therefore e4L wishes to caution each reader of this press
release to carefully consider certain factors, including competition for
customers, media pricing and access, market
<PAGE>
conditions regarding buyers and sellers of media, the potential effect of
litigation involving e4L, the risks of doing business, issues related to
entering new markets and the electronic commerce industry, the inherent
difficulty in identifying successful products, locating efficient suppliers of
such products and bringing such products to market in a timely fashion and other
factors, each of which could affect the ability of e4L to achieve its projected
results and may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed
herein. For a description of additional risks and uncertainties, please refer to
e4L's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including e4L's most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Contact:
-------
Bruce D. Goodman, Executive Vice President
Telephone: (818) 461-6510
Facsimile: (818) 461-6460
e-mail:
[email protected]
