Digital River Aligns its European Operations with a Unified Go-to-Market Strategy
MINNEAPOLIS, January 20, 2005-- Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV), a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, today announced its plans to further align its European operations with a single unified go-to-market strategy. As result of this initiative, Digital River's U.K. and German-based offices now will provide its clients and prospects with the company's full complement of technology, products, services and marketing programs. In addition, these offices will offer increased local operational support to help clients accelerate entry and revenue growth within Europe.
In 2004, Digital River greatly expanded its European presence with the acquisition of element 5, said Joel Ronning, Digital River's CEO. We have been very satisfied with our global integration efforts and have achieved our strategic and financial objectives. Now we intend to intensify our pursuit and support of the European market. Our clients continue to view international expansion as a strategic online sales growth driver. By fully aligning our products, services, client-facing team and operational organization, we believe we can create a more unified go-to-market strategy and help our clients accelerate entry into international markets.
In connection with this initiative and the achievement of the integration milestones and obligations under the element 5 acquisition agreement announced on April 19, 2004, Gerrit Schumann and two other selling shareholder managers have decided to leave the company to pursue business interests outside of the outsourced e-commerce industry. These managers will remain on board at element 5 to transition their duties during the next sixty days. Mr. Schumann also has resigned from Digital River's Board of Directors.
We are proud of the development of element 5 over the past years, but this is the right time to move on, said Schumann on behalf of the element 5 executives. We are very confident in the capable team and leadership that are in place now.
Digital River has appointed Don Peterson, the company's current vice president of client management, to lead this European initiative. Mr. Peterson's experience encompasses more than 20 years of industry experience, including executive positions with large market leaders, such as IBM and Accenture. He also has successfully founded and developed two private firms, and led their integration into acquiring companies. To assist Mr. Peterson in meeting future growth objectives, several key element 5 managers have been promoted to senior positions.
About Digital River, Inc.
Digital River, Inc., a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, builds and manages online businesses for more than 40,000 software publishers, manufacturers, distributors and online retailers. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company's comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud prevention, site merchandising, advanced reporting and analytics, product fulfillment, e-marketing and multi-lingual customer service.
Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices in major U.S. and European cities. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at www.digitalriver.com or call 952-253-1234.
Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.
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