Microsoft Corp. , Gannett Co., Inc , Tribune Company , and The McClatchy Company announced that Microsoft has purchased a minority equity stake in CareerBuilder.com, the U.S.'s largest online job site. In a separate agreement, MSN(R) and CareerBuilder have extended their strategic alliance, making CareerBuilder the exclusive content provider to the MSN Careers channel in the U.S. through 2013. MSN and CareerBuilder have also broadened their alliance to include key MSN international sites, facilitating an accelerated expansion overseas for CareerBuilder.

CareerBuilder has experienced an unprecedented level of success in the online recruitment space, rising from the No. 3 position in revenue in the U.S. to No. 1 in just five years. The job site averages more than 1.5 million job postings per month.

"Our strategic business relationship with MSN played a major part in CareerBuilder taking over as the industry leader in 2006, helping to drive critical levels of job search traffic," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. "Microsoft's equity stake builds on this successful relationship and establishes a global alliance with one of the world's most ubiquitous technology powerhouses. It enables CareerBuilder to continue to grow faster in the U.S. than any other job site while leveraging a strong international platform to quickly enter new markets in Europe and all over the world."

"MSN has had a strong relationship with CareerBuilder for over three years and helped it rise to top of the industry," said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer for MSN at Microsoft. "Taking an equity stake in the most prominent job site in the U.S. presents a unique opportunity to enhance our business relationship. In addition, the agreement to share our global footprint with CareerBuilder unites our worldwide technology and information channels and gives users access to unmatched job search and job distribution resources."

MSN AND CAREERBUILDER - U.S. TRAFFIC

The relationship between Microsoft and CareerBuilder began in January 2004 when CareerBuilder became the exclusive job search engine for the MSN Careers channel in the U.S. CareerBuilder's monthly traffic grew by nearly 10 million unique visitors from 2003 to 2004 with MSN contributing a significant portion of the increased traffic. CareerBuilder continues to grow its traffic, which now averages more than 21 million unique visitors per month as part of the enhanced relationship.

Similar to the previous arrangement, the new agreement is also performance-based with financial payments driven by the quality and quantity of traffic delivered. The new agreement provides for an extension to 2013, whereby CareerBuilder will pay MSN up to $443 million over the course of seven years to serve as the exclusive job search engine on the MSN Careers channel.

INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION

The business alliance between CareerBuilder and MSN is also expanding on a global scale.

Under a new international traffic agreement, MSN has committed to integrating CareerBuilder services across key MSN sites, primarily in Europe. The agreement, in effect until 2013, is also performance-based and will make CareerBuilder the exclusive job search engine on key international sites.

CareerBuilder began building a more aggressive presence in international markets in 2006 by launching sites in the UK, Canada and India. Last month, CareerBuilder announced it has acquired Jobbguiden in Sweden and JobbingMall in The Netherlands.

MSN plans to launch CareerBuilder on MSN sites in most European countries by the middle of 2008 with several rolling out by the end of 2007.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About MSN and Windows Live

MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Windows Live, a set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov. 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be found at http://ideas.live.com/. Windows Live is available at http://www.live.com/. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/.

  Media Contacts for Microsoft:
  Erika Bitzer
  Senior Account Executive
  Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
  (503) 443-7000
  erikab@waggeneredstrom.com

  Rapid Response Team
  Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
  (503) 443-7070
  rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

  About Gannett

Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 90 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes nearly 300 titles, including 18 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.

  Media Contact for Gannett:
  Tara Connell
  VP/Corporate Communications
  703/854-6049

  Investor Contact:
  Jeff Heinz
  Director/Investor Relations
  703/854-6917

  About Tribune

TRIBUNE is one of the country's top media companies, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households and is the only media organization with newspapers, television stations and websites in the nation's top three markets. In publishing, Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.), The Sun (Baltimore), South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant. The company's broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience.

  Media Contact for Tribune:
  Gary Weitman
  VP/Corporate Communication
  312/222-3394 (office phone)
  gweitman@tribune.com

  Investor Contact:
  Ruthellyn Musil
  SVP/Corporate Relations
  312/222-3787 (office phone)
  rmusil@tribune.com

  About McClatchy

The McClatchy Company is the third-largest newspaper company in the United States, with 31 daily newspapers and approximately 50 non-dailies. McClatchy-owned newspapers include the Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Kansas City Star, the Charlotte Observer, and The (Raleigh) News & Observer. In addition, McClatchy has a robust network of valuable internet assets, including leading local websites in each of its daily newspaper markets, offering readers information, comprehensive news, advertising, e-commerce and other services. The company also owns and operates McClatchy Interactive, an interactive operation that provides websites with content, publishing tools and software development; Real Cities (http://www.realcities.com/), the largest national advertising network of local news web sites, and is part owner of CareerBuilder, the nation's largest online classified employment listing service. McClatchy also owns 25.6 percent of Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry partnership that includes such online classified web sites as cars.com and apartments.com.

  Investor Contact:
  Elaine Lintecum
  Treasurer
  916-321-1846

  About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 21 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. , Tribune Company , The McClatchy Company , and Microsoft Corp. , the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,000 partners that reach national, local, industry and niche audiences. These include more than 150 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 250,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 20 million- plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. Millions of job seekers visit the site every month to search for opportunities by industry, location, company and job type, sign up for automatic email job alerts, and get advice on job hunting and career management. For more information about CareerBuilder.com products and services, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/.

  Media Contact for CareerBuilder.com:
  Jennifer Sullivan
  Senior Director, Corporate Communications
  773-527-1164
  Jennifer.Sullivan@careerbuilder.com

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SOURCE: CareerBuilder.com