Hoover's Portal Windows Selected For Integration Within Sybase Enterprise Portal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sybase Marks Fourth Major Software Provider To Choose Hoover's Portal Windows

AUSTIN, TEXAS - August 27, 2001 - Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOV), a leading provider of online business information, tools, and content integration technology, today announced an agreement with Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), a leader in e-Business software, to include Hoover's Portal Windows in the Sybase Enterprise Portal product family (Sybase EP). Hoover's Portal Windows are navigational windows into Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com), the premier online information resource for businesspeople. Sybase EP provides customers with personalized, online access to enterprise applications and data.

Under the agreement, Hoover's is now part of the Sybase e-Portal Alliance. The companies will work together to integrate the following Hoover's Portal Windows into the Sybase EP:

• Capsule Search - includes coverage on more than 12 million companies worldwide
• Headline News - displays the top five news headlines from a preconfigured Hoover's query
• Industry Updates - covers the latest news within dozens of industry sectors
• Simple Search - allows ad hoc searching of daily news headlines

"Our strategy has long been based on making Hoover's information easily accessible to our customers and partnering with market leaders. Sybase is a well-respected recognized leader in the enterprise portal market, with a growing and loyal customer base," said Carl Shepherd, executive vice president of Hoover's. "Making Hoover's Portal Windows a part of the Sybase EP will enable busy professionals to access crucial business information anytime, anyplace, through a Web-based, personalized point of access."

"The quality of a portal's content greatly impacts the success of e-Business," said Rick Adam, senior vice president and general manager of the Sybase e-Business Division. "The selection of Hoover's Portal Windows shows our commitment to helping our customers be more productive. This agreement allows us to deliver Hoover's reliable, high-quality business information quickly and directly to those who need it."

Sybase is the fourth major software provider to choose Hoover's Portal Windows for inclusion within its portal product. Hoover's announced similar agreements this year with Microsoft, IBM and Lotus.

About Hoover's, Inc.

Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOV) provides online business information, tools, and content integration technology to help businesspeople get their jobs done. Hoover's information is available through its destination site Hoover's Online (http://www.hoovers.com) and the company's other sites in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.; through co-branding agreements with 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), 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.

About Sybase, Inc.

Sybase provides enterprise-class software solutions that fuel e-Business and enable access to Information anytime, anyplace. With its industry-leading Enterprise Portal (EP), mobile and wireless, business intelligence and vertical-market solutions, Sybase is one of the largest global independent software companies in the world. For more information, visit the Sybase Web site: www.sybase.com

Sybase is a registered trademark of Sybase, Inc.

"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 products and services, the success of new features and tools from Hoover's Online, including Hoover's Portal Windows, 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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