CONTACT: Jay S. Winuk
Winuk Communications
646-613-7720
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATA DOWNLINK LAUNCHES "COMPBOOK" ON WEB
New Service Provides Competitive/Peer Information and Comprehensive, Customized Reports on Thousands of Companies
New York, NY - February 23, 1999 - Providing comparative analysis, competitive intelligence information and customized reports on more than 18,000 public companies worldwide, Data Downlink Corporation today announced the availability of compbook, a new web-based business information service. Compbook will be available to users of Data Downlink's .xls service as of February 21, 1999, and to all Internet users as of March 21, 1999. A compbook demonstration can be accessed at http://compbook.xls.com and the service can be accessed via the .xls website, www.xls.com.
Designed for those who need timely, comprehensive comparative financial and business data on groups of companies, compbook allows users to find peer companies for a target company by setting a range of financial criteria, or searching for companies by industry group or key word. Once the set of peer companies is determined, the user can select from a collection of different reports to create a highly customized compbook.
The service provides financial information on companies in more than 100 industries and 50 countries, and offers data in more than a dozen categories. These
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include balance sheets; income and cash flow statements; operating margin and ratio comparisons; merger and acquisition summaries; risk analysis statistics; shareholding data; earnings estimates; investment research headlines; archival news headlines and more.
"Compbook makes the whole process of gathering competitive financial data quick and easy," said Bryan Finkel, managing director of Technology Venture Management. "It is clearly the most user-friendly and most economical way to find out everything you need to know about a company and its peers. Compbook's customized reports are clear and concise, offering the user comprehensive information without clutter."
Compbook draws from many premier databases, including Market Guide, Mergerstat, Nelson's, BARRA, Carson Group, Investext, Business & Industry and others. According to Steve Goldstein, founder and CEO of Data Downlink, compbook is designed for investment bankers and valuation professionals, chief financial officers, business development executives, strategic planners, investor relations professionals, and competitive intelligence practitioners.
"Executives who use compbook will find that our data reaches deeper from more varied sources than other comparative information sources previously available," said Mr. Goldstein. "With 10 or so clicks on a mouse, users can quickly find and access virtually all the financial data available on almost every public company in the U.S. and overseas." Goldstein noted that compbook provides both quantitative and qualitative
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information, and that users will be able to select reports in both text and data formats.
Each compbook can be created and paid for a la carte, so the user only pays for the information required for his/her analysis. Compbooks can be created for two to 10 companies with prices ranging from $15.00 to several hundred dollars if the report includes comprehensive mergers and acquisitions and shareholding information. Subscription pricing is also available.
Data Downlink Corporation, based in New York City and founded in 1996,
provides a fully indexed, comprehensive library of premium financial and business information through its web-based information service, called .xls www.xls.com. Providing access to global company financial data and economic, demographic, industry, country and market-specific data, .xls allows users to automatically download information directly into a Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. For more information about compbook, Data Downlink and its 60+ different databases on .xls, visit the company's web site www.xls.com or call customer service at 212-363-9620 in the U.S. or in London at 44 (0)20 3059 5765.