WebMD Assesses Impact of Recent Events
PR NEWSWIRE - September 16, 2001 19:51
ELMWOOD PARK, N.J., Sep 16, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- WebMD Corporation (Nasdaq: HLTH) today announced several important company updates.
Mr. Martin J. Wygod, Chairman and CEO, stated, "The thoughts and prayers of the WebMD family are with our country and all those whose loved ones were lost or injured in the tragic events of last week. Our lives will forever be impacted by this loss." In commenting on how last week's events affect the Company, Mr. Wygod, added, "Although travel and shipping delays, telecommunication difficulties, scheduling conflicts and other after effects of last week's events may have some impact on our revenue expectations for the September quarter, particularly in our physician software product offerings, we were fortunate that substantially all our employees, facilities and business operations were not significantly impacted by the events of last week."
WebMD also announced that its technology agreement with Microsoft Corporation has been terminated by the parties. All other aspects of WebMD and Microsoft's strategic relationship will continue unchanged. WebMD will continue to be the primary provider of health programming on MSN and other Microsoft-affiliated sites. The technology agreement, which was entered into in April 2001, had been contingent on the parties reaching agreement on certain technology requirements and licensing terms. The termination of this aspect of the relationship with Microsoft will not impact the rollout of the Company's newest products, ULTIA and Intergy. WebMD stated that it intends to continue to use PocketPC for ULTIA. In addition, both companies intend to continue to seek to work together in other areas of their respective businesses.
In addition, WebMD announced today that it has begun the process of evaluating the carrying value of its long-lived assets, representing primarily goodwill and other intangible assets that were created over the last two years from the numerous acquisitions made by the Company, with its common stock as the primary consideration. As a result of this process, the Company may record a non-cash charge in the September quarter to adjust the carrying value of goodwill and other intangible assets. |
