(INTERNET WIRE) -- 06/06/2001 -- PennMedia, the Internet's largest advertising network for e-mail publications, announced today that recent acquisitions and growth have pushed their total subscriber counts to 62 million.

For the first time, PennMedia's 62 million subscribers and 938 publications places them among publishing industry giants like Bertelsmann, AOL/TimeWarner, News Corp. Gannett and Tribune Co.

PennMedia's President and CEO, Jaffer Ali stated, "It's interesting to realize that we reach more people every day than the top 75 newspapers in the country combined. Reaching over 62 million opt-in subscribers has taken more than two years and for us to remain profitable while growing has been a tribute to a great, dedicated staff.

Acquisitions to continue...

Ali continued, "We are in a unique position where we can continue purchasing some quality online publications from those publishers who have not been able to weather the shake out. As a result, we have earmarked an additional $15 million for 2001 subscriber acquisitions. We think there are still some excellent values out there."

Subscribers to PennMedia e-mail publications opt-in to receive content addressing a wide range of popular topics including daily jokes, recipes, sports scores, entertainment news, technology tips and more. All publications are free to subscribers and are subsidized through brief text advertisements inserted within the content.

PennMedia is a privately held company based in suburban Chicago and is the first and largest advertising network for publications delivered via e-mail. Founded in late 1998 to provide an effective online advertising vehicle for marketers seeking a positive ROI, the company has been operating profitably since its fourth month of operation. PennMedia's clients include AT&T, Bissell, Columbia House, Dell, Doubleday, Fidelity, HealthyChoice, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Nabisco, and Xerox.