AmericanGreetings.com Acquires BlueMountain.com

CLEVELAND, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) today announced its online subsidiary, AmericanGreetings.com, has acquired the BlueMountain.com business from Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) for $35 million in cash.

Combining BlueMountain.com with AmericanGreetings.com will result in the world's leading provider of electronic greetings. "BlueMountain.com is an online pioneer and one of the Internet's most recognizable names," said Josef Mandelbaum, CEO of AmericanGreetings.com. "We are excited to welcome BlueMountain.com to our existing family of sites, along with
AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings.com, and BeatGreets.com. Our customers and partners can expect us to continue to provide them with unparalleled products and services."

"The American Greetings family is a natural home for BlueMountain.com," said Matt Jones, chief operating officer for Excite@Home. "For Excite@Home, the sale of BlueMountain.com maps to our action plan to focus on broadband and to bolster our cash position and lower operating costs."

Top 10 Web Site

The electronic greetings channel has seen tremendous growth since its inception in 1996 with more than 50 percent of the United States population and 85 percent of all Internet users visiting a greetings site annually. Today, the combined reach of AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings, Beatgreets.com and BlueMountain.com will exceed 100 million unique visitors each year,
according to Jupiter MediaMetrix. On a monthly basis the combined company will be a top 10-web property in terms of unique visitors according to Nielsen//NetRatings rankings. American Greetings acquired Egreetings and BeatGreets in March of this year.

"The acquisition gives American Greetings the opportunity to further utilize for consumers worldwide our core competency of creative expressions, regardless of the channel," said Jim Spira, president and chief operating officer of American Greetings and chairman of AmericanGreetings.com. "Our philosophy is that whether it's a paper or electronic greeting, communication spurs communication. An electronic greeting from you to me today may lead to a paper greeting from me to you tomorrow."

Profitability Goals Reaffirmed

American Greetings believes the acquisition will not change its online subsidiary's previously stated goal of reaching profitability in the fourth quarter of the current calendar year. Moreover, the acquisition should enhance profitability in calendar year 2002 and beyond by expanding revenue opportunities over several categories, including online advertising, paid content, business-to-business marketing services and electronic commerce.

"With the profitability of AmericanGreetings.com in clear sight, American Greetings is seizing the opportunity to firmly establish its leadership position during this transformational moment in the rapidly growing and constantly evolving electronic channel of the social expressions industry," Spira said.

The acquisition also gives American Greetings additional opportunities to utilize the Internet for its valued retail partners with an expanded consumer base. Since February, the company has provided online visitors with value- added coupons to redeem on greeting card purchases at its retail partners' stores nationwide, with a redemption rate on those offers that is about 10 times the industry average.

Continuing partnership with Excite@Home

Separately, along with the agreement to purchase BlueMountain.com, American Greetings is executing an operating agreement with Excite@Home that will extend the relationship between BlueMountain.com and Excite@Home. In this agreement, BlueMountain.com will continue to be the preferred provider of electronic greetings for the Excite Network for the next three years. Excite@Home is purchasing approximately $3 million in advertising on the AmericanGreetings.com and BlueMountain.com Web sites, promoting the Excite Network.

About American Greetings

American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. Its staff of artists, designers and writers comprises one of the largest creative departments in the world and helps consumers "say it best" by supplying more than 15,000 greeting card designs to retail outlets in nearly every English-speaking country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings drives annual sales of more than $2.5 billion. For more information
on the company, visit http//www.americangreetings.com on the World Wide Web.

About AmericanGreetings.com

AmericanGreetings.com is the online greetings and personal expression subsidiary of American Greetings. AmericanGreetings.com is consistently ranked as one of the world's top Web sites, with an average of more than 17 million monthly unique visitors, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Through partnerships with AOL, MSN and Yahoo!, AmericanGreetings.com (AOL Keyword: AG) and its affiliates reach 85 percent of all Web users. It offers the largest creative selection available on the Web. Along with its flagship site, AmericanGreetings.com operates the Egreetings Network and BeatGreets, which features musical greetings from more than 200 artists.

About BlueMountain.com

BlueMountain.com is an electronic greeting card publisher that offers free animated and musical greeting cards that consumers can email to anyone on the Internet. BlueMountain.com offers thousands of cards in nine languages.

The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: retail bankruptcies and consolidations, successful integration of acquisitions, a weak retail environment, consumer acceptance of products as priced and marketed, the impact of technology on core product sales and competitive terms
of sale offered to customers. Risks pertaining specifically to the corporation's electronic marketing business include the ability of
AmericanGreetings.com to attract strategic partners as investors, the viability of online advertising as a revenue generator, and the public's acceptance of online greetings and other social expression products.

Excite@Home and @Home are service marks or registered service marks of At Home Corporation in the United States and other countries.