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C-ME.com ANNOUNCES C-ME.com/FAR EAST JOINT VENTURE PASADENA, CA -May 5, 2000- Cyber Merchants Exchange, d.b.a. C-ME.com (OTC-BB: CMEE), a business-to-business service provider to the retail industry, today announced the establishment of a joint venture corporation to expand its Internet Sourcing Network into Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma. The agreement establishes a joint venture corporation in the Far East under the name C-ME.com/Far East with Vickem Patana, a Thailand corporation. Under the agreement, C-ME.com/ Far East has opened one merchandise-sourcing office in Bangkok, Thailand and will open one in Manilla, Phillipines by September 2000. The joint venture agreement also allows for C-ME.com/Far East to open localized sourcing offices in Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma, and gives C-ME.com/Far East the right of first refusal on opening offices in South Korea. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "It gives us great pleasure to announce C-ME.com/Far East," said Frank Yuan, Chairman & CEO of Cyber Merchants Exchange. "This represents the next step in our global expansion. First we formed C-ME.com/Taiwan, and now we are expanding our merchandise sourcing solution into five more countries," continued Yuan. "C-ME.com/Taiwan has made rapid progress, since we first announced its formation," said Yuan. "Although the joint venture was just formed in December 1999, C-ME.com/Taiwan has already opened offices in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, hired 40 employees, established a web site (in Chinese, at www.c-me.com.tw,) and has begun aggressively marketing the Internet Sourcing Network to Taiwanese manufacturers. "We believe that the rapid implementation of C-ME.com's services through C-ME.com/Taiwan is noteworthy because this initial joint venture serves as a pilot for C-ME.com/Far East and future international expansion," said Yuan. "It is through similar joint ventures that we will aggregate overseas manufacturers -- completing the merchandise sourcing pipeline through C-ME.com's Internet Sourcing Networks directly to U.S. retailers. In turn, this pipeline will expand the merchandise-sourcing opportunities and lower merchandise-sourcing costs for our U.S. retail partners." "The Internet revolution has been slow to reach Thailand,"said Padoongkiat Apichaidejudom, CEO of C-ME.com/Far East. "Both my experience in Thailand corporations and my education in the United States lead me to believe that business-to-business e-commerce is the only profitable Internet segment. As a pioneer in the Thailand Internet space, our intent is for C-ME.com/Far East to create a significant national presence, building web portals, fostering e-commerce, and providing premium web design in addition to aggregating Thailand manufacturers who need a low-cost, low-technology way to sell directly to U.S. retailers." Vickem Patana, a subsidiary of Vikem Group, is a major supplier, and manufacturer of textile dyestuffs and chemicals in Thailand. Vikem Group is a Thai conglomerate that owns chemical, property and service businesses, and has invested in wood products, elastics, and Internet product and service businesses as well. The mission of Cyber Merchants Exchange, Inc. d.b.a C-ME.com (www.C-ME.com) is to use its proprietary web-based software to create a global, business-to-business e-commerce solution that streamlines the way retailers locate viable merchandise sources. The company builds and maintains the Internet Sourcing Network, private extranets that enable retail buyers to streamline front-end merchandise sourcing activities from their desktops. C-ME.com's current retail partners include Factory 2-U Stores (NASDAQ: FTUS) and Burlington Coat Factory (NYSE: BCF). The Company also provides its subscribing vendors custom web design and hosting and the Virtual Trade ShowTM ("VTS"), a vertical marketplace for vendors to display their product in an open environment. It has formed C-ME.com/Taiwan and C-ME.com/Far East and will continue establishing joint ventures to facilitate direct international merchandise sourcing for its U.S. retail partners. Certain of the statements made herein constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. In such instances, actual results could differ materially as a result of a variety of factors including the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions at home and abroad, variations in cash flow, reliance on collaborative retail customers, reliance on intellectual property legislation, use of proprietary un-patented technology, dependence on the Internet and on new product development, variations in new product and service development, risks associated with rapid technological change, and potential of introduced or undetected flaws and defects in products and services and other risk factors detailed in forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. |
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