Dedicated Areas on AOL Services in UK, France and Germany to Provide 5 Million Members Best lastminute Travel, Entertainment and Shopping Offers



LONDON, November 19, 2001 -- lastminute.com, the provider of lastminute travel and leisure solutions, and AOL Europe, Europe's leading Internet, online and e-commerce services company, today announced a major pan-European content and e-commerce agreement to provide AOL Europe's 5 million members on AOL branded services with the best lastminute travel, entertainment and shopping offers, including exclusive special deals for AOL members.

Under this expanded pan-European agreement, which builds upon the successful two-year alliance between the two companies, AOL Europe will integrate the lastminute.com booking and search engines into its Travel, Entertainment and Shop@ Channels across the AOL services in the UK, France and Germany.

Members visiting AOL Travel, Entertainment and Shop@AOL Channels across Europe will benefit from front and center access to lastminute.com's inspirational last minute holidays, hotels theatre tickets and gifts. In addition, AOL Europe will create lastminute deal sections on the AOL services in UK, Germany and France and special areas and specific marketing campaigns to promote the new agreement. AOL members will also have one-click access to lastminute.com content via AOL Keyword: Lastminute in the UK, Germany and France.

Brent Hoberman, CEO of lastminute.com said: " We are delighted to be able to bring lastminute.com's products and services to AOL's 5 million members across Europe's three largest markets. We've been very successful on the AOL service to date and in return, we've found AOL to be a great generator of customers and users. The partnership is based on a strong record of performance and is in line with lastminute.com's cost effective marketing strategy as we move towards profitability."

Jerry Glover, Senior Vice President, Interactive Marketing, AOL Europe, stated: "This partnership of two of Europe's leading online brands demonstrates how AOL Europe's ability to offer its partners truly pan-European e-commerce and content performance through a single brand and easy-to-use interface makes us the partner of choice. In addition, the depth of lastminute.com's integration across our European services is a testament to our confidence in their status as winners in the e-commerce space. With this deal, we look forward to extending a proven and successful relationship."

About AOL Europe
AOL Europe S.A. is Europe's leading Internet, online and e-commerce services company, reaching consumers in ten countries and five languages through its AOL and CompuServe subscription services, the AOL and CompuServe portals and the AOL Instant Messenger, CompuServe Office and Netscape registered user services.

AOL Europe consistently leads in time spent online, the key measure of the powerful subscriber relationships and member experience that have made AOL the world's #1 interactive service.

About lastminute.com
Based on the idea of matching supply and demand, lastminute.com currently offers consumers last minute opportunities to acquire airline tickets, hotel rooms, package holidays, entertainment tickets, restaurant reservations, specialty services, gifts and auctions in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, The Netherlands, Australia and South Africa. As of 30 June 2001, lastminute.com had 3.5 million subscriber users and had established approximately 8,500 supplier relationships, with companies such as Lufthansa, British Midland, Alitalia, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Sol Melia, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Forte Hotel Group, Kempinski Hotels, English National Ballet, The Royal Albert Hall and Conran Restaurants.

lastminute.com is the most visited travel website in the UK and and number one pan-European travel property according to a survey by Jupiter MMXI.

Enquiries:

AOL Europe
John Ullyot +44 20 7348 8352
johnnyu@aol.com

lastminute.com
Gnash Communications +44 (0)20 7313 4770
Amanda Harris
Fran Matthews
amanda@gnash.co.uk, fran@gnash.co.uk

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