Times Company Digital and OpenTable.com Announce Strategic Alliance and Joint Marketing Agreement
January 26, 2000
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NEW YORK, NY (January 26, 2000) - NYToday.com, a property of Times Company Digital, the Internet division of The New York Times Company, and OpenTable.com (www.opentable.com), the leader in online restaurant reservations, announced today a strategic marketing and business partnership that will make real-time restaurant reservations available on Times Company Digital's local online entertainment and city guide. Beginning next month, visitors to NYToday.com (www.nytoday.com) will be able to make real-time reservations at restaurants throughout New York City and the surrounding area.
Under the agreement, OpenTable.com will be the exclusive provider of restaurant reservations on NYToday.com; the Internet's most comprehensive and up-to-date source for information about New York City. With a click of a mouse, visitors to NYToday.com will have access to a free, personalized dining reservation system that allows them to instantly reserve tables at restaurants throughout the New York metropolitan area. OpenTable.com's revolutionary technology enables diners to search for a restaurant by cuisine or neighborhood and get instant, online confirmation of reservations.
OpenTable.com and NYToday.com will develop a co-branded website that will feature reviews and information from The New York Times and OpenTable.com's real-time reservation technology. Visitors to NYToday.com will also be able to access OpenTable.com's reservations via the Marketplace and Restaurant sections of NYToday.com. The two organizations will develop integrated sales and marketing programs to address New York restaurants.
"The combination of NYToday.com's world-class restaurant reviews and our reservation functionality is a terrific benefit to New York City's residents and visitors," said Chuck Templeton, OpenTable.com president and CEO. "NYToday.com is one of the first places on the Internet people go to plan an evening out in New York. Now, beyond the valuable information and entertaining content available, visitors will have the ability to act on that content and make free reservations. We're pleased that Times Company Digital shares our enthusiasm for helping consumers make the most of their time online," he said.
Jason Krebs, VP and General Manager of NYToday.com, said: "We expect OpenTable.com to be a tremendous resource for all visitors to NYToday.com who are interested in dining out. Working with OpenTable.com is consistent with our strategy of aligning with high-quality partners, and OpenTable.com's reservation functionality will help confirm our position as the most comprehensive and interactive online guide to dining in New York."
About NYToday.com and Times Company Digital
NYToday.com, which is part of Times Company Digital (TCD), is the premiere online entertainment and resource guide for New York City. Times Company Digital serves a quality audience online by providing high-quality news, information and interaction through its own premier Web sites as well as affiliate partners. TCD's family of sites includes The New York Times on the Web (www.nytimes.com), Boston.com (www.boston.com), NYToday.com (www.nytoday.com), WineToday.com (www.winetoday.com), GolfDigest.com (www.golfdigest.com) and Abuzz (www.abuzz.com), which develops sophisticated community and knowledge-sharing applications for use on the Internet. Times Company Digital is a division of The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT).
About OpenTable.com
OpenTable.com, Inc. is building a network of the world's finest restaurants and their patrons. The company's Internet-connected electronic reservation book (ERB) harnesses the power of the Internet for restaurants - enabling enhanced customer service and revolutionary marketing capabilities - while giving diners free online access to restaurant information and available reservations twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Founded in 1998 by Chuck Templeton, OpenTable.com is backed by leading Venture Capital Firms including Impact Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital and Prescient Capital. The company has partnered with restaurants from Ark Restaurants Corp., California Café Restaurant Corp., the Lark Creek Group, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc., Real Restaurant Group and Union Square Hospitality Group. OpenTable.com is based in San Francisco, California, and has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. For more information about OpenTable.com or its online restaurant reservation network visit www.opentable.com or call 877.327.9328.
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