XING AG acquires cember.net, Turkey’s leading online business network

Takeover of profitable Turkish platform cember.net further extends XING’s market leadership in Europe
- cember.net – the largest business network in Turkey with over 280,000 members
- Acquired network is highly compatible with the XING platform

Hamburg, January 23, 2008 – XING AG (ISIN: DE000XNG8888), the European market leader for business networking, has acquired cember.net (www.cember.net), the largest network for business contacts in Turkey. This is the third acquisition realized by XING AG in the last ten months, driving forward the Company’s course of consolidation in Europe following its takeover of the Spanish networks eConozco and Neurona. This takeover also now marks XING out as the clear market leader providing online networking for business professionals in the Turkish-speaking world. cember.net currently has approximately 280,000 members who subscribe to the network either for free or on a fee-paying basis. In 2007, thanks to a strong growth in fee-paying members and additional revenues from advertising, the company was profitable.

“We view Turkey as being one of Europe’s fastest growing national economies. As well as proving a profitable company, cember.net has the key advantage of already being an established brand within Turkey. We are looking forward to working together to further build on our market leadership in Europe and our presence in Turkey,” said Lars Hinrichs, Founder and CEO of XING AG.
Çaglar Erol, CEO and founder of cember.net: “XING has gained millions of members worldwide in a very short time by providing a first class service in online business networking. I believe that for XING, which has valued Turkish speaking professionals highly from the very beginning, this acquisition of one of the most successful web applications in Turkey is a very important strategic step in Europe. For the exclusive cember.net member base, this is an opportunity to be part of a much bigger and global community, and benefit from XING’s sophisticated services. I believe that this strong platform, which has always been a role model for cember.net, will provide new international opportunities and a huge success for all cember.net members.“

Already active on the Turkish market, XING’s acquisition of cember.net will reinforce its profile and positioning in all the key centers of commerce. Due to the compatibility of the platforms, their similar business models and common focus on business professionals, XING AG anticipates that cember.net members will also be willing to pay for the more comprehensive features available with XING’s Premium Membership.

Çaglar Erol and Nihan Colak Erol, the founders of cember.net, will play a key active role in the integration of cember.net to XING, and will also support the Turkish-speaking XING community with a small team based in Istanbul itself.

Important notice:
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the operations, business development, membership growth and financial results of XING AG and/or the industry in which the Company operates. These forward-looking statements are generally indicated by terms such as 'estimate', 'anticipate', 'expect', 'assume', 'intend', 'predict', 'plan', 'strive', 'should', 'could', 'would', 'will' and similar phrasing. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including assumptions, estimates and opinions by the Company or information provided by third parties, are based on the current plans, estimates, assumptions and forecasts, and may entail uncertainties and risks. A variety of different factors could lead to actual results, trends and conditions that differ significantly from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The Company does not assume any liability for this eventuality and cannot guarantee that the information upon which the forward-looking statements are based is correct and complete, nor is the Company, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies liable for the future correctness of the statements outlined in this press release. Information and statistics from external sources should not be interpreted as information and statistics that have been verified by the Company. The Company, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies are not obliged to update any forward-looking statements.

Contact :
Daniela Hinrichs
XING AG
VP Corporate Communications
+49 40-419131-19
press@xing.com

About XING:
XING makes your professional network an active part of your life. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING enables its members to discover professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools. With the successful IPO of XING as the first Web 2.0 company to go public, XING AG has had a long-term impact on the social networking trend amongst professionals. By focusing on the target group 'business people worldwide', the company is able to offer tailored features, thereby making networking and contact management simpler. Besides Headquarters in Hamburg, XING AG is also represented with offices in Barcelona, Istanbul and Beijing.
XING. Powering Relationships.

This release was published on openPR.