Napster Contacts:
Corporate Communications:
Dana M. Harris
Napster
310-281-5000
dana.harris@napster.com
Matt Benson/Wendy Fraser
Citigate Sard Verbinnen
415-618-8750
mbenson@sardverb.com
wfraser@sardverb.com
Tracy Greenberger
Citigate Sard Verbinnen
212-687-8080
tgreenberger@sardverb.com
Investor Relations:
Alex Wellins
The Blueshirt Group
415-217-5861
alex@blueshirtgroup.com
NAPSTER ENGAGES UBS TO ASSIST IN EVALUATION OF STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES
LOS ANGELES, CA - September 18, 2006 - Napster (NASDAQ: NAPS) announced today that in response to recent
third party interest in establishing strategic partnerships or potentially acquiring the company, it has
retained UBS Investment Bank to assist the Board and management in its evaluation of strategic alternatives.
Chris Gorog, Napster’s Chairman & CEO, said, "Napster is in a strong position to continue aggressively building
our business as an independent company and we are pleased to also have the opportunity to thoughtfully examine
potential combinations that may further enhance Napster’s unique strategic and brand position in the center of
digital media. Our goal is to enhance shareholder value which could potentially lead to a new strategic
partnership or the sale of the company but in any event our primary focus will remain on growing Napster."
Nand Gangwani, Napster’s CFO, said, "Napster has a strong balance sheet with a healthy cash position of $97
million as of the close of the first quarter and we are currently generating annual revenues in excess of $100
million. For the second half of our fiscal year, we project a strong up-tick in subscription growth from a base
of more than half a million subscribers and a significant expansion of our mobile business, including the
addition of new tier one wireless partners. We are also looking forward to launching in Japan this fall as
scheduled, expanding our global footprint to include the top four music markets in the world."
The company advised that it has not set a definitive timetable for completion of its evaluation and further that
there can be no assurances that the evaluation process will result in any specific transaction. The company also
advised that it does not intend to disclose developments regarding its evaluation of strategic alternatives
unless and until its Board of Directors approves a definitive transaction.
About Napster
Napster is committed to making great music experiences more accessible to all music fans. Napster.com gives web
users the power to legally listen on-demand to a massive catalog of music from major and independent labels,
wherever they are on the Web -- for FREE. The Napster music subscription service offers a premium experience
that includes unlimited access to CD-quality music and advanced discovery, community and programming features in
an advertising-free environment. Napster To Go subscribers also enjoy unlimited transfer of music to a compatible
MP3 player. Napster Light, an a la carte download store, and Napster Mobile, a hosted music service featuring
artist images, ring tones and full-length songs, round out the Napster digital music lineup. Napster is
headquartered in Los Angeles with sales offices in Frankfurt and London. For more information, please visit
www.napster.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release, in particular matters related to
the growth of Napster, potential strategic partnerships or the acquisition of Napster, Napster's revenues,
subscriber growth, the expansion of Napster’s mobile business, relationships with tier one wireless providers and
the launch of the music service in Japan, contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties including the new and rapidly evolving nature of digital media distribution and Napster’s business
model, Napster’s ability to add new subscribers and reduce churn, intense competition, the failure to maintain
strategic relationships, reliance on content provided by third parties and failure of the Napster service to
interoperate with the hardware of Napster's customers, and provisions in Napster’s agreements, charter documents,
stockholder rights plan and Delaware law that may delay or prevent acquisition of us that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected. Additional information on these and other factors are contained
in Napster's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC on August 2, 2006, copies of which are available at the website maintained
by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Napster assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in
this press release
Copyright © 2006 Napster, LLC. All rights reserved. Napster, Napster Mobile, Napster To Go and Napster Light are either
trademarks or registered trademarks of Napster, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All
other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.
# # #