Hoover's Online Launches Hoover's Information Marketplace

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hoover's Online Users Gain Quick Access To Latest Business Research Reports

AUSTIN, TEXAS - May 31, 2001 - Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOV), a leading provider of online business information, tools and content integration and syndication technology, today announced the launch of its new Hoover's Information Marketplace on Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com), the premier online information resource for businesspeople. Hoover's Information Marketplace includes a comprehensive collection of thousands of pay-per-view business research reports from multiple top-tier publishers. Hoover's Online users can now use the Marketplace to find research reports by industry sector (i.e., computer hardware, retail); topic of interest (online training, customer service); and report type (sales/marketing reports, financial reports).

Hoover's is using eCatalog software from Cardonet, Inc. (www.cardonet.com), a provider of automated catalog management solutions for business-to-business e-commerce, to help build and maintain the new Information Marketplace. Partners initially providing research reports for Hoover's Information Marketplace include Forrester Research, ICON Group International and Pyramid Research.

Users can access the Information Marketplace directly from within contextually relevant Hoover's Company Capsules and Hoover's Industry Snapshots, or through the Hoover's Online Purchasing Center.

"Capitalizing on our editorial expertise at Hoover's, product managers create the association between Hoover's proprietary information and our partners' research reports, rather than that connection being made by an automated keyword search or another technological method of determining the relevancy to surrounding content," said Jani Farlow Spede, senior vice president and publisher of Hoover's Online.

"By providing a direct link to our partners' reports within the context of Hoover's proprietary business information, we are giving our users easy access to the relevant business reports they need to do their jobs more efficiently. This new Marketplace allows us to capitalize on our past success in the sales of pay-per-view digital content," Spede added.

"This unique Marketplace shows the type of win-win proposition that can be created when you combine the Internet with an efficient, well-organized catalog," said Itay Meiri, CEO of Cardonet. "We're pleased to be helping Hoover's organize and aggregate various publishers' reports in a way that helps businesspeople find and order valuable information faster."

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, including the Hoover's Information Marketplace, 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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