NBC Universal to Acquire iVillage Inc.; Top Women's Online Community to Be Centerpiece of NBCU's Digital Strategy

NBC Universal and iVillage Inc. (NASDAQ:IVIL) havesigned a definitive agreement for NBC to acquire iVillage, one of thenation's most successful online destinations for women. Theacquisition was announced today by Bob Wright, Vice Chairman andExecutive Officer, General Electric; Chairman and CEO, NBC Universaland Doug McCormick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, iVillageInc. NBC Universal will purchase 100% of the equity of iVillage for$8.50 in cash per common share of the company for a net cost ofapproximately $600 million. The transaction is expected to close inthe second quarter of 2006 pending shareholder and regulatoryapprovals.

With this acquisition, NBC Universal will engage millions of loyaliVillage users, a community which mirrors a key demographic of the NBCUniversal audience - women. Every part of NBC Universal, fromtelevision and film to home entertainment will support and driveiVillage forward. From this platform, NBC Universal will chart thenext generation of digital content development and enhance userexperience.

"As this transaction demonstrates, we are committed to deliveringcontent to consumers through distribution systems both traditional andnew," said Wright. "Acquiring iVillage will enable us to bring ourprogramming to a large and passionate online community. We lookforward to building on the considerable brand strength iVillage hasdeveloped over the past 10 years and to giving our advertising clientsnew and exciting ways to reach a valuable demographic."

"With this transaction, iVillage solidifies its position as aworld class brand," said McCormick. "This milestone is recognition ofthe contributions by our employees, our partners, and our investors.We are very excited to join the NBC Universal family and to becomepart of a media company that is unparalleled in its product and itspeople."

iVillage brings a profitable internet business, with proprietarycontent and a consistent user base that commands premium advertisingpricing. With the addition of iVillage, NBC Universal expects to growthe company's digital revenues to approximately $200MM in 2006, andprojects a 20% growth rate going forward. Full year 2005 iVillage.comrevenues were up approximately 30% year-over-year, excludingacquisitions. Additionally, NBC Universal expects to realizesignificant cost synergies by using iVillage capabilities to supportexisting digital operations.

"iVillage immediately gives us scale and a profitable, establishedplatform to expand our digital efforts, especially in the rapidlygrowing areas of health and women's interests," said Beth Comstock,President, NBC Universal Digital Media and Market Development. "Thisis all about creating important new intersections between community,content and commerce. We envision connecting more deeply online, onmobile and on demand with key consumers throughout their various lifestages -- from their unique interests to their finances to theirhealth and well-being. We are also looking to create a more customizedconsumer healthcare experience, working in association with GEHealthcare."

iVillage is a well-established brand and a leading destination fora fast-growing sector of the online audience. According to the PewInternet & American Life Project, 86% of women ages 18 to 29 wereonline, compared with 80% of men in the same age group (January toJune, 2005). iVillage currently engages over 14 million uniqueusers(1) with rich content channels that tap into the wide span ofwomen's interests, covering everything from 'Health & Well-Being' to'Entertainment' to 'Beauty & Style.'

"This acquisition allows us to marry our on-air branded contentwith compelling new interactive functionality," added Jeff Zucker,Chief Executive Officer, NBC Universal Television Group. "From the'Today Show' to 'Project Runway' to 'The Biggest Loser' to all thehealth & medical and lifestyles segments we do every day on every oneof our owned and operated television stations, we will now be able tocreate a deeper, richer experience around our content for consumersacross all emerging platforms."

Upon completion of the transaction, the iVillage team will reportdirectly to Beth Comstock and continue to be based in New York.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. acted as the financial advisor toiVillage. Legal advisors to NBC Universal and iVillage were,respectively, the law firms of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Orrick,Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Conference Call

Executives from NBC Universal and iVillage will hold a conferencecall to discuss this announcement with the press today at 10:00 AM(ET). The conference call will be broadcast live on the Internet andwill be available on iVillage's Corporate Relations Web site, locatedat www.ivillage.com/investor, and on Street Events, located atwww.streetevents.com. A replay of the conference call will beavailable on the iVillage Corporate Relations Web site approximatelyone hour after the call ends on Monday, March 6, 2006 until 11:00 AM(ET) on Monday, March 13, 2006. A transcript of the conference callwill be available on the iVillage Corporate Relations Web sitethereafter.

About NBC Universal

NBC Universal is one of the world's leading media andentertainment companies in the development, production, and marketingof entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formedin May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi UniversalEntertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio ofnews and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company,significant television production operations, a leading televisionstations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%owned by General Electric, and 20% owned by Vivendi Universal.

About NBC Universal Digital Media

NBC Universal delivers its quality content to a variety of newmedia platforms, giving consumers what they want, where they want it.In 2004, the company launched NBC Mobile and became the first tocreate customized television programming especially for the cellphone. Today, content includes original newscasts from NBC News,comedy segments from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" andentertainment updates from "Access Hollywood." Online, NBC Universaldevelops content for its suite of premium sites, MSNBC.com featuresnetcasts of "Meet the Press," "Blogging Baghdad" and video streams of"NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." Additionally, CNBCWorldTV.comoffers free audio podcasts of "Foreign Exchange." During the 2006Torino Winter Games, NBCOlympics.com offered its largest coverage todate with video and audio streams, real-time results and photos,scoring the site a record-breaking 338 million page views during thecourse of the games. NBC Universal has also made a number of newplatform distribution deals, most notably as one of the first contentproviders to offer programming on Apple's iTunes. iTunes customers candownload popular and classic television shows from NBC, USA, Sci-Fiand most recently, Bravo.

About iVillage Inc.

iVillage is "the Internet for women" and consists of severalonline and offline media-based properties that seek to enrich thelives of women, teenage girls and parents through the offering ofunique content, community applications, tools and interactivefeatures. iVillage Inc. (NASDAQ:IVIL) was established in 1995 and isheadquartered in New York City.

For more information on iVillage please visit www.ivillage.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities LitigationReform Act of 1995:

iVillage Inc. has included in this press release certain"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning the acquisition ofiVillage by NBC Universal, as well as iVillage's business, operationsand financial condition. The words or phrases "can be," "expects,""may affect," "anticipates," "may depend," "believes," "estimates,""plans," "projects" and similar words and phrases are intended toidentify such forward-looking statements. These forward-lookingstatements are subject to various known and unknown risks anduncertainties and iVillage cautions you that any forward-lookinginformation provided by or on behalf of iVillage is not a guaranteethat the acquisition will be consummated, or a guarantee of futureresults, performance or achievements. Actual results could differmaterially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statementsdue to a number of factors, some of which are beyond iVillage'scontrol. In addition to those risks discussed in iVillage's otherpress releases, public filings and statements by iVillage'smanagement, factors that may cause iVillage's actual results,performance or achievements to differ materially from any futureresults, performance or achievements expressed or implied in suchforward looking statements include: (i) the volatile and competitivenature of the Internet industry and the media industry, (ii) changesin domestic and foreign economic, political and market conditions,(iii) the effect of federal, state and foreign regulation oniVillage's business, (iv) the impact of recent and future acquisitionsand joint ventures on iVillage's business and financial condition, (v)iVillage's ability to establish and maintain relationships withadvertisers, sponsors, and other third-party providers and partners,(vi) iVillage's ability to maintain or increase user traffic levels,(vii) the loss of one or more of iVillage's major customers, (viii)the effect of seasonal fluctuations in traditional online advertisingpurchasing patterns on iVillage's results of operations and (ix) theimpact of pending litigation on iVillage's business, results ofoperations and financial condition. All such forward-lookingstatements are current only as of the date on which such statementswere made. iVillage does not undertake any obligation to publiclyupdate any forward-looking statement to reflect events orcircumstances after the date on which any such statement is made or toreflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC

iVillage has agreed to file a proxy statement in connection withthe proposed Merger, which will be mailed to the stockholders ofiVillage. Investors and iVillage's stockholders are urged to readcarefully the proxy statement and other relevant materials when theybecome available because they will contain important information aboutthe Merger. Investors and security holders may obtain free copies ofthese documents (when they are available) and other documents filed byiVillage with the SEC through the web site maintained by the SEC atwww.sec.gov. In addition, investors and security holders may obtainfree copies of the documents filed with the SEC by iVillage by goingto the investor relations portion of iVillage's corporate website atwww.ivillage.com/investor or by contacting: Corporate Secretary,iVillage Inc., 500-512 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10018, Telephone:(212) 600-6000.

iVillage and its directors and executive officers may be deemed tobe participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of thetransactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement. A description ofany interests that iVillage's officers and directors have in theMerger will be available in the proxy statement. Information regardingcertain of these persons and their beneficial ownership of iVillagecommon stock as of April 27, 2005 is also set forth in the Schedule14A filed by iVillage on April 29, 2005 with the SEC. These documentsare available free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov orby going to the investors relations portion of iVillage's corporatewebsite at www.ivillage.com/investor.

(1)ComScore, Media Metrix, January 2006