Acquires Trademark Registrations and Domain Names for
Whitehall Jewelers, Lundstrom Jewelers, Marks Bros. Jewelers
& White Star Private Label
Acquires Customer Mailing List of Over 800,000 Names
CULVER CITY, Calif., Sept. 16, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bidz.com (Nasdaq:BIDZ), a leading online retailer of jewelry, announced today that it has acquired the intellectual property and trademark registrations of Whitehall Jewelers, Lundstrom Jewelers, Marks Bros. Jewelers and White Star Private Label, in the bankruptcy auction of Whitehall Jewelers. The Company also acquired the customer mailing list with over 800,000 names, addresses and transaction information.
Whitehall Jewelers was a national specialty retailer of fine jewelry offering a selection of merchandise in the following categories: diamonds, gold, precious and semi-precious jewelry and watches. Originally named Marks Bros. Jewelers, by Hugo and Al Marks, their first store opened in 1907. By 1946, the two brothers owned the largest jewelry franchise in Chicago's downtown market. By 1979, the company operated twelve stores under two brand names: Mark Bros. Jewelers and Whitehall Co. Jewelers. They soon added a third brand when the company opened its first Lundstrom Jewelers store in Fort Myers, Florida. Over the next two decades, the company was built into a premier national jewelry retailer with stores from coast to coast. As of August 2008, it operated 373 stores, with sales of over $270 million in regional and super-regional malls under the names Whitehall and Lundstrom.
"We are extremely pleased to have acquired all of the intellectual property for such a well-known brand as Whitehall Jewelers with a 100 year old family history and goodwill," said David Zinberg, Chief Executive Officer of Bidz.com. "Whitehall Jewelers was ranked the fifth largest specialty retailer of fine jewelry in North America, with a national footprint of over 370 retail locations consisting of Whitehall Jewelers and Lundstrom stores, that each targeted different customers. I am confident that this important acquisition consisting of its IP assets and over 800,000 customers will create additional growth opportunities for Bidz and better position us for the future."
About Bidz.com
Bidz.com, founded in 1998, is an online retailer of jewelry. Bidz offers its products through at live auction format as well as a fixed price online retail store, Buyz.com. Bidz.com's auctions are also available in Arabic, German and Spanish. To learn more about Bidz.com visit its website at www.bidz.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes forward looking statements about the Company's estimated revenue and earnings within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this release, including statements regarding the Company's future financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward looking statements. The words "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect the Company's financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Risks and uncertainties include that our common stock is subject to short selling and trading, and prices of our stock may be volatile; that we are subject to "prank" bidding; that we may face increasing costs to acquire new customers; the ability of the Company to attract customers to its website and offer attractive products; the ability to maintain profit levels while expanding international sales; the ability to detect fraud if we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls; the ability to maintain our website, electronic data processing systems, and systems hardware; the ability to forecast accurately net revenue and plan for expenses; that we do not have a guaranteed supply of jewelry products and that we have a heavy concentration of inventory purchase from our top two suppliers; the ability to protect our intellectual property rights; and potential litigation and government enforcement actions that may result from our prior securities offerings. Please refer to Bidz.com's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a further discussion of these risks and uncertainties.Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Bidz.com undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they were made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.