Companies Join Forces to Expand eBook Opportunity to Broaden Customer Base

Seybold San Francisco, (August 28, 2000) (Nasdaq:ADBE)--In a deal that leverages the strengths of two leaders in the eBook market, Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Boston-based Glassbook, Incorporated. Glassbook is a developer of consumer and commercial software for the eBook market, automating the supply chain for publishers, booksellers, distributors and libraries. Today’s announcement significantly advances Adobe’s strategy of leveraging its publishing heritage to bring simplicity and ease of use to all aspects of the eBook experience. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Glassbook is a significant player in the eBook arena. This acquisition really strengthens Adobe’s e-book initiative and gives it a stronger story for the publishing community,” said Mark Walter, e-book analyst, Seybold Publications and editor of the Seybold Report on Internet Publishing.

Glassbook was founded by Len Kawell, president, Mary Ellen Heinen, vice president, sales and marketing and Tom Díaz, vice president, development. The founders, along with the rest of the Glassbook team, will all become employees of Adobe. In addition to marketing and engineering resources, Glassbook® products, technologies and services included in this acquisition are the Glassbook Reader, Glassbook Plus Reader and the Glassbook Content Server.

As part of Adobe, Glassbook personnel will join Adobe’s eBook team and continue to work on a shared mission of creating open, standards-based eBook solutions, based on Adobe PDF, that offer the most robust and convenient eBook buying and reading experience. The Glassbook Reader provides an enhanced user interface that utilizes key features such as text to speech, two-page view and display rotation. The Glassbook Reader technology will be integrated into future versions of the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®. Through the Glassbook Content Server, Adobe will enable publishers to distribute their work electronically in the secure Adobe PDF format and facilitate business and e-commerce transactions.

"This acquisition perfectly aligns with what both companies see as a great opportunity æ to deliver an eBook platform that is open, based on Adobe® PDF and beneficial for the entire publishing chain,” said Joe Eschbach, vice president, ePaper® Solutions Group at Adobe. "By leveraging the personnel and technology strengths of Glassbook, Adobe will continue to develop products and services that give customers an eBook experience that is unsurpassed.”

"Adobe and Glassbook share a common vision for the future of eBooks,” said Len Kawell at Glassbook. "Combining Adobe’s publishing expertise with the technology strength of Glassbook underscores this vision, which is the availability of an eBooks platform that is simple, easily accessible and open.”

The Glassbook acquisition is the most recent move in Adobe’s strategy to deliver sound business tools for the eBook publishing chain while giving consumers a visual experience that is viewed exactly how the author intended in print – including text, graphics or sound. Other recent Adobe eBook announcements include relationships with Barnes&Noble.com (B&N.com), iUniverse, ContentGuard, InterTrust and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

About Glassbook

Glassbook, Incorporated (www.glassbook.com) develops open standards-based products for the emerging electronic book market. The company builds high-fidelity e-book reading software for consumers and applications that automate the e-book supply chain for publishers, booksellers, distributors, and libraries. Glassbook is dedicated to creating solutions that uniquely provide a true evolution of the book reading experience through ease-of-use and enhanced features, while effectively addressing the needs of individuals and businesses that create, distribute and sell books.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) builds award-winning software solutions for Web and print publishing. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media, and authoring tools enable customers to create, publish and deliver visually-rich content for various types of media. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Adobe is the third largest U.S.-based personal software company, with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion.