FortuneCity Reports Strong Fourth Quarter and Full Year 1999 Financial and Operational Results

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--March 10, 2000--Stellar year for FortuneCity in 1999: - Registered Members grew 436% from 1 million to 5 million - 493% Annualised Increase in Revenues - Stockholder Equity Increased over 856% - FortuneCity Launches Global Network Strategy - FortuneCity Network Expands to 22 Internet Properties - Company Focused on Hot Content Areas and WAP - 232% Increase in Audience Reach During the Year - Internet Rankings Strengthened

Key accomplishments for FortuneCity in the fourth quarter 1999:

- Gross Profit In Fourth Quarter 1999 Exceeds Total Revenues For 1998
- 47% Growth in Revenues from Previous Quarter
- 504% growth in Fourth Quarter 1999 Revenues vs. Fourth Quarter 1998
- Entry into Hot Music Arena with Flynote, PopEx
- First-to-Market WAPdrive Application Launched

FortuneCity.com, Inc. (Neuer Markt - FCT), a leading Internet media company and network of Internet personal publishing, content and entertainment sites, today announced strong operating and financial results for 1999, driven by a record fourth quarter.

Over the past year, FortuneCity has grown and transformed itself from an Internet homepage community with just two Internet properties - FortuneCity.com and FortuneCity.de to a global network of 22 highly interactive, inter-related personal publishing, content and entertainment sites. This growth has been achieved through a combination of acquisitions and internal development.


Surge in International and US Rankings

In January, The Financial Times reported that FortuneCity was the 12th largest advertising based Internet company in America. Based on traffic in January 2000, Nielsen/Netratings rated FortuneCity as the 22nd largest international network amongst all Internet properties worldwide. The Company was the highest ranked Internet Company by traffic among all European listed Internet companies. Media Metrix, a leading independent U.S. Internet rating agency in America, ranked the FortuneCity Network as the 30th largest digital media property among U.S. users for the month of January 2000.


Total Revenues Up 493%

Total revenues for the year rose 493% to $8.0 million from $1.4 million in 1998. The fourth quarter of 1999 was a record quarter for FortuneCity. Revenues, driven by advertising, were 504% higher than in the fourth quarter of 1998 and exceeded the third quarter of 1999 by 47%. Revenues from sites other than the original FortuneCity.com site, which is primarily focused on North American Internet users, also continue to grow rapidly. In the fourth quarter of 1999, 42% of total revenue was from sites other than FortuneCity.com. In the fourth quarter of 1998 virtually all revenue was generated on the
FortuneCity.com site. Fourth quarter and total 1999 revenue growth was powered by an increase in the number of registered users and visitors to FortuneCity Network properties and the related increase in the available inventory of advertising impressions.


Fourth Quarter 1999 Gross Profit Exceeds 1998 Revenue

Gross Profit for 1999 was $3,016,554 up from $289,001 in 1998. Gross Profit in the fourth quarter was $1,540,514. The Gross Profit margin continued to increase throughout 1999, validating the strength of FortuneCity`s media business model. The gross profit margin for the fourth quarter of 1999 was 47% compared with 40% in the third quarter of 1999 and a gross loss in the 4th Quarter of 1998. Gross Profit in the fourth quarter of 1999 exceeded total revenues for 1998.


Balance Sheet Strengthens

The Company`s balance sheet was extremely strong throughout 1999. The growth in registered users was accomplished with a modest marketing budget compared to many of the Company`s competitors. At December 31, 1999 FortuneCity`s balance sheet included $ 57.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments compared with $4.1 million at December 31, 1998. Stockholders` equity increased from $8.7 million at December 31, 1998 to $83.1 million at December 31, 1999.


Exponential User and Content Growth
Registered Users Grew 436%

During 1999, the Company grew from approximately one million registered users to over 5 million. This 436% growth was achieved through a strategic commitment to offering sites of quality and user relevance, by leveraging the substantial traffic in the Company`s international network and the Company`s expertise in developing and acquiring new and synergistic Web properties. The user base continues to grow rapidly and stands at approximately 6 million members at the end of February 2000.


Page Views Grew 232%

FortuneCity Network page views soared as content produced by FortuneCity members drove an increase in visitors to the Company`s network of sites. At the end of 1999 there were over 9 million page views per day on FortuneCity sites, including affiliates. This represents an increase of 232% over the same period in 1998.


Personal Publishing Network Provides Strong Foundation for Strategic Expansion
Largest Independent Native Language Sites Network

The FortuneCity personal publishing network was the first to expand internationally and now includes three English language sites (www.fortunecity.com , www.fortunecity.co.uk, and www.in.fortunecity.com ) and eight other native language sites in German ( www.fortunecity.de ), Italian (www.fortunecity.it ), Spanish (www.fortunecity.es ), French (www.fortunecity.fr ), Swedish (www.fortunecity.se ), Dutch (www.fortunecity.nl ), Portuguese (www.pt.fortunecity.com ) and Chinese (www.cn.fortunecity.com ). In August 1999, FortuneCity acquired a major German language personal publishing site, Freepages.de (www.freepages.de), to further strengthen fortunecity.de`s impressive market share. FortuneCity has a
50% interest in AcmeCity.com (''AcmeCity''), a 50/50 joint ownership venture with Warner Bros. Online, a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. Time Warner`s expected merger with AOL will present additional opportunities for FortuneCity.


Vertical Expansion Emphasis on the Hottest Digital Content: Music, Games and Sports

Music: MP3`s and Virtual Trading

FortuneCity has recently launched Flynote.com to serve the explosive consumer demand for MP3 content and management. Flynote provides users with innovative capabilities including a centralised and free MP3 downloading, playing, storing and organising site. The Company has formed strategic marketing partnerships with content rich ''music your way'' sites, such as EZMP3 (a division of EZCD.com), to enhance Flynote.com`s market reach. FortuneCity will leverage Flynote.com through its membership base and large number of unique visitors.

Combining the killer categories of music and games, PopEx (www.popex.com), the multi-language online music share trading game, was launched in January 1999. PopEx, now fully WAP enabled, allows members to access share trading, share price information, news stories and charts from a WAP phone (http://mmm.popex.com).


Global Games

Hotgames.com (www.hotgames.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary acquired by FortuneCity in September 1999. Delivering interactive games content, reviews and tips, Hotgames has become a Top 10 international game site. Since joining the FortuneCity Network, traffic to Hotgames has almost doubled. Recently joining Hotgames, Lawrence Neves, a leading international PC and online games authority, will head up this initiative.


International Sports

FortuneCity acquired 100% of the World Sports Exchange (www.WSX.com) in an equity exchange deal. Based in Holland, WSX is a multi-language, free website where football fan members trade shares in players, managers and clubs on a virtual stock market.


Acquisition of Key Tools and Utilities Sites Underpin Network

In 1999, FortuneCity acquired and established a series of Internet sites focused on offering free Internet tools and utilities. Generating significant traffic and loyalty from users, these sticky sites provide an excellent platform for selling Internet advertising and as co-branded links drive traffic to other FortuneCity Network properties.

In May 1999, FortuneCity purchased 100% of the Dutch company, V3, that has since become the world`s largest provider of redirect services, personalised URLs and matching e-mail addresses. Through December 31,V3 had over 1,300,000 registered users and approximately 1.9 million redirects per day. In November 1999, the Company acquired www.notrix.de , the leading German redirect service offering access to over 20 different domain names, such as mysite.de, germany.ms, as well as notrix.de.

In August 1999, FortuneCity purchased 20% of the common stock with an option to acquire the remaining 80% of Bravenet.com (www.bravenet.com ), a Canadian company. BraveNet provides innovative homepage building Web tools including guest books, message boards, hit counters, site statistics and photo storage centres. In the five months that it has been part of the FortuneCity Network, BraveNet has increased its number of registered users from 195,000 to 391,500.

The Company`s recent joint venture, FreeDoms.de, has become the fastest growing provider of free Internet addresses in Germany. With the addition of FreeDoms.de to its international network, FortuneCity now supports half of all newly registered German Internet addresses.


FortuneCity Prepares for the Future with Technological Innovation: WAP

Analysts project explosive growth in mobile access and the ensuing need for applications. FortuneCity is uniquely poised to capitalise on mobile access and WAP technology. Several of the Company`s senior management team, including The Chairman and The President and CEO, were formerly major international mobile telephone company executives, with extensive wireless industry expertise. The Company believes it can obtain a leading position in the wireless Internet/WAP market by strategically partnering with major European firms. The Company
anticipates that mobile-based users will represent a dramatically larger percentage of FortuneCity`s users in the future and that its tactical positioning will translate into unprecedented growth and new revenue streams.

FortuneCity is first to market with break-through WAP tool for managing WAP sites. The Company`s proprietary WAP site builder, WAPdrive (www.WAPdrive.net) allows anyone with Internet access to create WAP content pages that can be easily accessed from any WAP enabled phone anywhere in the world. Over the next several months FortuneCity will WAP enable most of its content sites and aggressively launch or acquire other strategic content sites for WAP enabling. As additional mobile platforms and standards become available on the market, the Company is poised to develop further WAP services.


Expanded Employee Base

At December 31, 1999, FortuneCity had 164 employees compared with 45 at the end of 1998. The breakdown of the total number of employees was 80 in sales and marketing, 50 in product development and the remainder in operations and general and administrative. Globally, 90 or 55% were in the U.S. and 74 or 45% were employed outside the U.S., primarily in Europe. During the fourth quarter of 1999, the number of employees increased by 38, primarily in the sales and marketing group. Hiring continues to grow, propelling further business growth. At the end of February 2000, the Company`s employees numbered 196.


NOTE: For financial details, including tabular information and graphs, contact Brian Kaplan at RLM Public Relations, 212/741-5106 x16