This just in ... Linkshare ... perfect timing, or what?

[Rhea]

Hi GVers,

Thought I'd pass this email from Linkshare along.

(quote on)


May 31, 2001

Dear LinkShare Merchants and Affiliates:

We are pleased to report that the LinkShare Network(r) continues to thrive
even in today's challenging market environment. Last week, Mitsui & Co.
(USA), Inc., a leading international Japanese trading company, made an
additional investment in LinkShare, thus strengthening the strategic
partnership between our two companies. These funds will enable us to
remain focused on our mission to acquire, retain and drive revenue for
our premier merchant and affiliate partners. To keep you apprised of the
company's progress, below is a brief summary of key accomplishments
during the first half of 2001.

Growth in the LinkShare Network(r)

E-commerce sales through the LinkShare Network(r) continue to grow. First
quarter sales through the network increased nearly 200% over Q1 2000.
This growth was fueled by more than 10 million merchant-affiliate
partnerships in the network, three times the number of relationships one
year ago. In fact, 65% of all Fortune 500 companies with outsourced
affiliate programs now have a program through LinkShare.

In addition, LinkShare has continued to aggressively add to our solid
portfolio of leading click & mortar clients, thus diversifying and
strengthening our partner base. So far this year, we've added more than
two dozen high profile merchants, including J.Crew, Datek, Oakwood,
Household Credit Services, Lillian Vernon, Maytag, Mikasa, Quill, Zagat
Survey, and Eluxury. New top tier affiliates include Northwest Airlines,
First USA, Washington Mutual, Upromise, Coupons.com, Sharper Image,
Bigprizes.com and CatalogLink.com.

Technological Innovations

During the first six months of the year, LinkShare has taken a number of
steps to enhance the speed and functionality of our software.

For merchants, our new Affiliate Payment Feature facilitates managing
affiliate payments and communicating payment status through the
LinkShare merchant interface. Our Dynamic Rich Media Feature allows
merchants to distribute and track rich media links across all affiliate
sites. Other system enhancements include our re-engineered Find New
Affiliates Feature (to be launched this week), our Sales and Activity
Quick Report and our Scheduled Jobs Report. And finally, we are rolling
out new enhancements designed to provide merchants with more control and
flexibility in managing their programs, such as submitting manual
credits, searching for transactions, or making changes to their offers.

For affiliates, we have made a variety of enhancements to payment
processing. The Merchant Payment Report provides affiliates with
up-to-date information on the status of payments by their merchant
partners. Additionally, LinkShare has created a Merchant Payment History
page that provides affiliates with payment information each month for
the preceding six months. There are more enhancements to the payment
processing system in the works, and we will keep you updated on our
progress on these top priority initiatives.

New Networks

In April, LinkShare Japan(sm) was launched in combination with Mitsui
&Co. (USA), Inc. LinkShare Japan held its first Symposium in Tokyo on
April 26th. Mitsui received over 900 registrations from leading
companies for the event, accepting just under half due to space
constraints. To date, signed merchants include Handspring, Eddie Bauer,
Sony Music, Zurich Insurance, Apple Computer and Suntory.

In addition, this month LinkShare introduced LinkShare UK(sm) with
Handspring as the first UK merchant to launch in the network. Reaction
to our network has been favorable and we anticipate a rapid ramp up.

If you are interested in more information about either of these two
networks, please contact us at japan@linkshare.com or uk@linkshare.com.

Commitment to Profitability

Like most companies, LinkShare has been affected by current economic
trends. However, we remain committed to achieving profitability in the
2001 calendar year. As a result, a recent assessment of both our
revenues and expenses has led to a variety of cost containment
initiatives, including a staff reduction on May 24. Though difficult,
we believe this decision was necessary to ensure we achieve our
profitability goals in this calendar year.

Above all, LinkShare remains committed to providing our merchants and
affiliates with attentive, high-quality service and enhancing the value
that the LinkShare Network(r) delivers. We appreciate your participation
and look forward to a productive and profitable year together.

Sincerely,

Stephen Messer
Chief Executive Officer, LinkShare

(quote off)



------------------
Rhea
www.yuckles.com
www.bigdancelist.com

[weagle]

it would be nice if they use that extra money to go after (THOSE) merchants that owe us money!