Hoover's And Financial Times Forge Strategic Agreement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Alliance To Include Mutual Content Integration And Marketing Efforts

AUSTIN, Texas and LONDON - March 12, 2001 - Two of the most influential names in business news and information, Financial Times Information Limited, publisher of FT.com, the online operation of the Financial Times newspaper owned by Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO), and Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOV), a leading provider of online business information, tools, and content integration and syndication technology, today announced an agreement to integrate key elements of each company's powerful content within FT.com (www.ft.com) and Hoover's destination sites, Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com) and Hoover's Online U.K. (www.hoovers.co.uk).

As part of the agreement, the companies will also work toward integrating FT.com's content within Hoover's other sites in France (www.hoovers.com/fr), Germany (www.hoovers.com/de), Italy (www.hoovers.com/it) and Spain (www.hoovers.com/es). Financial Times and Hoover's also agreed to assist each other with promotion of their respective brands.

"This alliance will deliver practical benefits to businesspeople everywhere by providing easier access to both FT.com's wide-ranging, authoritative and timely business news, and to Hoover's trusted company information on more than 65,000 public and private enterprises worldwide," said Hoover's CEO Patrick Spain. "By combining two of the best business brands on the Web, we're delivering the right combination of business news and information in a compelling, timely way."

"FT.com's leadership in delivering business and financial news throughout Europe complements Hoover's reputation as one of the best-known providers of company information online in the U.S.," said Stephen Hill, chief executive of the Financial Times Group.

As part of the agreement, FT.com news stories will include links to Hoover's Company Information, including company descriptions, contact information, key officers and competitors, as well as sales and employee figures. In turn, company information on Hoover's Online and Hoover's Online U.K. will direct users to more than 3,000 related news headlines and articles per day from FT.com's unmatched archive of news stories.

"This is a particularly exciting partnership for us as we continue to expand across Europe," said Gehan Talwatte, managing director of Hoover's London-based subsidiary, Hoover's Online Europe Limited. "Our growth strategy dictates that we seek partnerships with like-minded, respected and credible European brands in order to solidify Hoover's services as a must-have for people around the world who need answers to their business questions."

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 expected benefits of strategic relationships, future services and new products. 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 new and enhanced services, the success of new features and tools from Hoover's Online and Hoover's Online Europe, the retention of subscribers and customers, ability to attract new subscribers and 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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