American Greetings will include the charge as an investment loss in its
fiscal 2001 fourth quarter and full year earnings, which reflects a decline in
the value of an investment.
The charge will impact the company’s fiscal 2001 fourth quarter and full
year earnings by approximately $0.51 a share. American Greetings now
anticipates earnings for the full year to be in the range of $0.79 to $0.84 a
share.
American Greetings also announced today that its Internet unit has signed
a definitive merger agreement in which AmericanGreetings.com would acquire all
remaining outstanding common shares of Egreetings Network for $0.85 a share.
The Company reports that the combined businesses will attract nearly 20
million unique visitors per month, placing AmericanGreetings.com among the top
15 websites, and making it even more attractive to a larger pool of
advertisers. Electronic greetings are already the second most-popular activity
on the web, just following e-mail in Internet activity.
While the charge will affect this year’s earnings, the merger with
Egreetings will establish AmericanGreetings.com as the category leader in
electronic greetings, said Morry Weiss, chairman and chief executive officer
of American Greetings Corporation. We are now more confident than ever that
this business unit will move quickly towards profitability by the fourth
quarter in calendar year 2001.
