AdStar, Inc.

AdStar began operations in 1986, and has since grown into the largest

provider of remote entry software for delivering classified ads into newspapers

in the United States. AdStar has installed its software in more than 30

US newspapers and more than 1,400 advertising agencies. In 2000, it is

estimated that more than $300 million of classified ads were placed using

their historical system. The Company's leadership position derives from

its software addressing the extremely difficult process of properly formatting,

pricing and scheduling a classified ad and finding a way to send this

ad to a publishing classified system without seriously impeding the processing

demands of both the newspaper's automated systems and the associated human

AdStar Inc. (ADST) announced in March 2002 that it will receive about

$ 1.8 million of funding from the Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB) in exchange

for preferred stock under a strategic alliance agreement. AdStar will

provide Web-based recruitment advertising sales technology to all major

market Tribune newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles

Times and Newsday. Ad agencies and employers will be able to create, schedule

and buy print ads to run in CareerBuilder-branded print help-wanted sections

and place the ads on the CareerBuilder Web site. Tribune and Knight Ridder

Inc. (NYSE: KRI) are the major shareholders of CareerBuilder.

In 1998, AdStar identified that Internet technology could greatly enhance

its software tools and services. Over the last two years the Company has

designed, developed and marketed its Web-based product, Advertise123.com,

a one-stop marketplace on the Web to buy classified ads. It enables advertisers

to plan, schedule, compose and purchase classified advertising from over

120 print and on-line publishers using one simple interface. The service

permits professional advertisers and the general public to create and

submit to one or multiple publishers any number of ads, 24 hours a day,

In 1999 AdStar began the transition from a software tools provider to an Internet

marketplace for print and on-line classified advertising. The Company

received its first transaction fee from this Internet business in June

1999. At that time it had one publication available on its site. It now

has over 300 print publications and newspaper networks, and 30 on-line

publications available on the site, and have coverage in the top 100 designated

For publishers, the Web-based ASP offers them the ability to generate incremental revenue through their Web sites. As an ASP, AdStar contracts with publishers to design, implement, host, and manage the on-line ad-taking capabilities of that newspaper's Web sites, thus allowing its customers to generate incremental transactional revenue from Web-site visitors. The Company provides all the technical and application expertise, support, and security measures that the publisher needs to get an application up and generating revenue for them in a short time. For professional advertisers, its Web-based service broadens substantially the range of publishers accessible through its system while continuing to support the direct access provided by its historical business. For the general public, AdStar's Web-based system offers a complete, interactive and easy to use method to plan, schedule, compose, price and pay for ads in a broad range of print and on-line publications.