Yahoo! Europe and British Telecommunications plc, today announce that Yahoo! Europe has acquired dotmusic and Games Domain, wholly owned businesses of BT Openworld. The financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
The acquisition of dotmusic and Games Domain follows the announcement that Yahoo! and British Telecommunications plc have entered into a far-reaching alliance to deliver a powerful new Internet experience to consumers in the United Kingdom and the subsequent launch of BT Yahoo! Broadband on 2nd September 2003. A narrowband version of the portal is expected to launch later during 2003.
The activities of dotmusic (www.dotmusic.com), which provides music news, reviews, interviews and charts and Games Domain (www.gamesdomain.co.uk), which provides games, news, reviews and features, as well as downloadable content in the form of playable games demos, patches and movies, will be integrated into both BT Yahoo! Broadband's offering and into Yahoo!'s music and gaming activities on its UK & Ireland site.
Mark Opzoomer, managing director and regional vice president of Yahoo! Europe commented "We believe that the acquisition of dotmusic and Games Domain makes strong commercial sense for both Yahoo! and British Telecommunications and will enhance the customer experience on the BT Yahoo! Broadband portal. Yahoo! have a proven track record in the music and gaming field and the additional content from dotmusic and Games Domain will further the goal of providing Yahoo!'s UK & Ireland consumers with a compelling customer proposition."
Duncan Ingram, managing director, BT Openworld, added "The BT Yahoo! Broadband service draws upon the respective strengths of both companies, combining the UK's leading communications company and ADSL provider with Yahoo!'s leading content and services. This agreement is a natural extension of our stated strategy and will add to the attractiveness of the overall BT Yahoo! offering for our current and future customers."
About Yahoo! Europe
Yahoo! Europe provides communications, commerce and media services across its eight sites in Europe to meet the needs of local consumers. Yahoo! Europe is comprised of the Yahoo! sites for the UK & Ireland (www.yahoo.co.uk), France (www.yahoo.fr), Germany (www.yahoo.de), Italy (www.yahoo.it), Spain (www.yahoo.es), Catalan (www.ct.yahoo.com) and the Nordic region, including Denmark (www.yahoo.dk), Sweden (www.yahoo.se) and Norway (www.yahoo.no). The Yahoo! offices in London, Paris, Munich, Milan, Madrid and Copenhagen are staffed by local nationals and Yahoo! Europe is headquartered in central London.
About BT Openworld
BT Openworld, BT¹s mass market internet division, is one of the UK¹s leading internet service providers. It delivers broadband and narrowband services to more than 1.7 million business and consumer customers in the UK.
BT Openworld offers a wide range of internet access packages and payment options. Consumer broadband customers can sign up to BT Yahoo! Broadband. This new consumer broadband product will have a high degree of personalisation, integrated parental controls, a high standard of security such as a free firewall, anti-virus and anti-spam software and a pop-up killer for spam. Other features will include more web space and LAUNCHcast radio. Consumer narrowband products include BT Openworld Anytime, Surftime and Pay as you go. These products will be upgraded to BT Yahoo! Internet later this year.
For businesses, BT Openworld offers Business 500 Plug & Go - a self-install Broadband product. Other products cover a choice of download speeds, from up to 500kbps, to up to 2Mbps, single or multi-user set-ups for PC or Mac, and static or dynamic IP addresses. BT Openworld also provides Broadband over satellite for business users, as well as additional value-added services, such as Wireless LAN, Teleworker and Web Design solutions. BT Openworld Connect Anytime is a narrowband service designed specifically for business customers.
