Hoover's to Consolidate Offices of Hoover's Media Technologies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hoover's Media Technologies Will Shift Its Operations To Hoover's Home Base In Austin, Texas

AUSTIN, Texas - March 8, 2001 - Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOV), a leading provider of online business information, tools, and content integration and syndication technology, today announced it will consolidate Hoover's Media Technologies (HMT) operations at its Austin, Texas-based headquarters. Hoover's acquired HMT, formerly Powerize Inc., in August of 2000.

The HMT offices in Reston, Va., and Linthicum, Md., will be closed by the end of March. HMT currently employs 36 people at these two offices. An undetermined, but significant, number of these employees will be offered the opportunity to follow HMT to Texas. To the extent that these offers are not accepted, new staff will be hired in Texas.

The office closings will not affect the HMT revenue streams; HMT will continue to provide its Hoover's Intelligence Monitor product, the NewsStand offering through Lotus Notes and on Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com), plus other custom content integration and syndication services.

"Closing these offices will result in significant expense savings on an ongoing basis," said Hoover's CFO, Lynn Atchison. "Our leases at these locations were up shortly; space in the Washington area is quite expensive; and we have plenty of much lower-cost office space at our new corporate headquarters, which will open in May in Austin."

"We have completed the process of integrating HMT products and technologies into our overall business plan. Considering the economic realities of this competitive marketplace, we have chosen to move those operations to Austin so we can be more efficient and lower our costs," said Patrick Spain, Hoover's CEO. "This consolidation makes perfect sense - it will not only significantly reduce Hoover's operating expenses, but it will also allow us to pull together our management and technology personnel at our Austin headquarters."

About Hoover's, Inc.

Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOV) provides online business information, tools, and content integration and syndication technology to help businesspeople get their jobs done. Hoover's information is available through its destination sites Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com) and the company's other sites in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K., through syndication and co-branding agreements with more than 30 other online services, and through customized applications developed for enterprise information portals, corporate intranets and business-to-business vertical and content sites. Hoover's investors include AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL), Media General (AMEX: MEG.A), NBC -- a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), and Knowledge Universe, through its Knowledge Net Holdings and Nextera Enterprises (Nasdaq: NXRA) units. Hoover's is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has offices in London, New York City, and San Francisco.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to future events or results that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the effect on the companies' revenue streams and the ability to significantly lower costs. Among the important factors which could cause actual results of Hoover's to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are the market demand and acceptance of the HMT products and services, the ability to retain key employees, ability to attract new customers, competition, economic conditions specific to the Internet, as well as general economic and market conditions and other factors described in Hoover's reports and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its prospectus and recent 10-K and 10-Q filings.

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