LiveUniverse Inc. (LU) Seeks to Acquire Stage6.com

LiveUniverse Inc. (LU) Seeks to Acquire Stage6.com

LU to Merge Stage6 with Four of its Video Sites Representing Over 200 Million Page Views and Pay DivX, Inc. $11 million in Cash & Carriage plus Equity Stake in Stage6 and Promotion of DivX Software

- After LiveUniverse makes its first offer, DivX Board refuses to engage in any direct dialogue with LiveUniverse for over 5 days, and during this time, DivX shuts down Stage6

- Directors of public companies have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to try to get the best deal and represent their interests, first and foremost

- DivX Board's decision to destroy website and its community when there was and is a firm superior offer on table from LiveUniverse raises questions of whether proper sales process was followed

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- LiveUniverse Inc., a leading interactive online entertainment network, today reported that it continues to be rebuffed by the Board of Directors of DivX, Inc. in LiveUniverse's attempt to: i) receive a proposed sales price or counter offer for sale of assets of Stage6.com from the Board, ii) confirm acceptance of LiveUniverse's latest offer presented today and detailed below, or iii) publicly disclose reasons why LiveUniverse's current offer is inferior to shutting down Stage6.

LIVEUNIVERSE OFFERS DIVX $11,000,000 + EQUITY PARTICIPATION TO ACQUIRE ASSETS OF STAGE6.

   -- Consideration is combination of cash, stock, online carriage, and      promotion of DivX software    1) LiveUniverse was and is willing to execute a definitive agreement      immediately and close the transaction within approximately 72 hours.    2) After acquiring controlling interest in Stage6, LiveUniverse will merge      Stage6 with four of its video entertainment websites that in aggregate      generate over 200 million page views per month.  The combined entity      would be one of the top video sites online with over 400 million      monthly page views.  DivX will receive a 10% equity interest in the new      entity.    3) LiveUniverse shall pay DivX $3,000,000 in cash.    4) LiveUniverse shall issue $5,000,000 in online advertising carriage to      DivX.  DivX will promote its products and services across      LiveUniverse's network of music, video, and social networking related      websites receiving over 40 million unique monthly visitors.  This will      result in less marketing money spent by DivX. (standard rate card)    5) LiveUniverse's Revver property will provide technical services,      including leveraging its Revver Wrapper technology to properly track      and share revenue with content creators.  This will help to drive      interest in and grow the Stage6 site.    6) DivX/LiveUniverse Strategic Partnership over 36-month period: DivX and      LiveUniverse would partner to sell DivX products across the      LiveUniverse network.  LiveUniverse would receive standard affiliate      fees and commit to promote DivX across its network of properties.      LiveUniverse will generate enough sales to earn at least $1,000,000 in      affiliate fees from sales of DivX software products over a 36-month      period.  Any shortfall will require LiveUniverse to pay for the      under-delivery.  Typically an affiliate fee is 15-20% of revenue      generated, therefore LiveUniverse would need to sell approximately      $5 million in DivX products during the agreement term.    7) LiveUniverse will also contribute a license for its new LiveVideo      community technology to vastly improve the Stage6 user experience and      grow the community.    8) DivX shareholders will receive 10% of the new company.  DivX may have      the right to "put" this stock position to LiveUniverse to purchase if      it elects after 36 months, whereupon LiveUniverse would be forced to      buy this 10% position via the "put."  Such "put" to LiveUniverse shall      cause LiveUniverse to pay DivX an additional $3,000,000 in cash.    

LiveUniverse is standing by to engage with DivX and complete a transaction.

WHAT CAN SHAREHOLDERS DO?

Shareholders and users of Stage6 can rally at http://www.livevideo.com/SaveStage6 to take initiative and proactively push the Board to do the right thing for shareholders. Shareholders may post messages, videos, and chat amongst themselves to help rally DivX management to reopen discussions with LiveUniverse or other interested parties.

Despite daily outbound calls and emails, LiveUniverse was and is unable to reach any of the DivX executives including General Counsel David Richter who LiveUniverse was originally referred to for the purposes of buying Stage6.

KEY ARTICLES SHED LIGHT ON SOME TROUBLING STORIES OF INTERNAL ISSUES BLOCKING FAIR PROCESS/FIDUCIARY DUTIES OF BOARD FROM BEING FOLLOWED:

The Street Column by Tim Beyers on 2/29/2008

LiveUniverse does not believe shareholders are getting the full story from DivX management and notes a recent article by the Street's Tim Beyers who noted that some of the disclosure by the former CTO of DivX does not jibe with the disclosure by DivX on the same topic. Beyers' mention of DivX in its entirety can be found at the bottom of this press release. Beyers' mention of this issue appeared in his Feb 29 column entitled, "Thursday's Worst Stocks In The World." The full text article can be found online at: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/02/29/thursdays-worst-stocks-in- the-world.aspx

2/26/2008

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington posted an article -- "Serious Drama, and Lots Of Stupidity, Behind Stage6 Shutdown"

"Yesterday San Diego based DivX announced the shutdown of popular video site Stage6, to the surprise and dismay of the site's 17.4 million happy monthly visitors (the post on the shutdown has over 5,000 comments). There's lots of speculation around why DivX is shutting the site down, ranging from piracy issues to the spiraling CDN costs of streaming all that HD content. But what really happened, according to multiple sources, is that a ridiculous battle of egos at the DivX board level caused most of the team to simply quit. DivX, essentially, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory."

Montgomery Securities

LiveUniverse also notes how DivX's investment banker Montgomery Securities is currently a defendant in federal court with Judge King related to Montgomery's role in misleading Intermix shareholders regarding the sale of MySpace. Intermix shareholders have filed a complaint against Montgomery Securities indicating that Montgomery created inaccurate fairness opinions and knowingly facilitated the sale of 100% of MySpace for $370 million in implied value. Most analysts today concur that MySpace, which is double the size of Facebook (which itself was recently valued at more than $15 billion by Microsoft about two years after the MySpace sale) is the #1 social networking platform worth significantly more than Facebook today.

"All we can do is keep trying to connect and make a deal," said LiveUniverse CEO Brad Greenspan. "We also think it is poor form for DivX to shut down access to the entire community on three days warning and lock out access to friends' lists and other user data that people invested lots of time building. We want to immediately reactivate user access to this data even as we attempt to negotiate a buyout that would restore the website."

POOR OR LACK OF SALES PROCESS BY DIVX NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED TO SHAREHOLDERS

LiveUniverse urges shareholders to contact DivX directors and executives and request they either engage in a process with interested buyers or further disclose the mysterious circumstances around why DivX has not run a process to sell the Stage6 website even though public disclosure indicates an exhaustive process was followed.

Case in Point: LiveUniverse had never been contacted by Montgomery Securities, the investment bank handling the sale for DivX and running the sales process. Never contacted before, LiveUniverse read an article on the shut down and proactively contacted Montgomery on February 29.

LiveUniverse is located in Southern California and is one of the only companies in the U.S. that has purchased another high-profile video website over the past 60 days (in this case Revver.com which was widely reported on CNET and other industry sources that DivX and Montgomery were very likely aware of). Yet despite both these qualifications, LiveUniverse was never contacted or informed of the opportunity by Montgomery Securities or DivX.

Therefore shareholders of DivX should inquire and demand to understand what Montgomery Securities did, how much they were paid, and why they did not contact obvious candidates that were likely buyers of DivX such as LiveUniverse.

LiveUniverse notes that Montgomery Securities is currently a defendant in Federal Court against Intermix Shareholders, a previously publicly-traded company, that alleges that Montgomery Securities failed to run any process before Intermix management and that Montgomery pushed through a transaction to sell Intermix and MySpace to News Corp. At the heart of the case in front of Judge King in California Federal Court, Montgomery and Thomas Wiesel created fairness opinions that attempted to justify the now glaringly low approximate $370 million that shareholders received for 100% of MySpace.

"It's amazing to me that a publicly-traded company would just not care to take the time to try to maximize an asset it has taken so much shareholder money to develop," said Greenspan. "I have been personally sending follow-up calls and emails, I have made multiple bona-fide offers and also indicated we were flexible to explore any structure on any terms. We have told DivX thru these emails that if they do not like what we are offering, then they should propose what terms they would sell on. Instead the management of DivX has decided that radio silence, shutting down the site, and simply pushing traffic from Stage6 to Veoh.com, a former competitor, is the 'easiest' solution for them. However the EASY route is not always the BEST route for maximizing value for SHAREHOLDERS."

HISTORY

On Wednesday, February 27, after reading that Stage6.com was being shuttered by DivX, LiveUniverse's Business Development team contacted DivX's CEO and was put in touch with General Counsel David Richter who referred the company to DivX banker Montgomery Securities.

Montgomery Securities indicated that indeed Stage6.com was being shut down that evening and sent LiveUniverse some basic background information. Montgomery said LiveUniverse could make a bid because the site was being shut down, and therefore any bid that provided upside for shareholders would likely work because it would be incremental for shareholders versus shutting the site down.

LiveUniverse submitted a bid proposal on Thursday evening, February 28. LiveUniverse did not hear back from Montgomery Securities with any feedback until Wednesday, March 5, when Montgomery called and indicated the Board had not reviewed LiveUniverse's bid until Monday, March 3, and was not interested in proceeding but would not provide any details or reasons why not.

LiveUniverse last spoke with a DivX Board Member on Friday, February 29, who indicated the Stage6 website was indeed available to be purchased and indicated Mr. Richter would call LiveUniverse that day. The Board member then instructed LiveUniverse to send an email to the Board Member and Mr. Richter indicating a desire to engage in a transaction. LiveUniverse followed the Director's instructions and LiveUniverse has not received any emails back from Mr. Richter or other DivX Directors or executives related to engaging in or working on a transaction to this day.

About LiveUniverse

LiveUniverse is one of the world's largest online entertainment networks, led by Brad Greenspan, the founder of MySpace. LiveUniverse operates several successful and popular websites across three core verticals: Video, Social Networking & Music. The LiveUniverse network is visited and reaches over 40 million unique visitors per month and over 400 million page views.

    Contacts:     Financial Relations Board    Saskia Sidenfaden / Kathy Price    (212) 827-3771 / (213) 486-6547    ssidenfaden@frbir.com / kprice@frbir.com  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: LiveUniverse Inc.

CONTACT: Saskia Sidenfaden, +1-212-827-3771, ssidenfaden@frbir.com, or
Kathy Price, +1-213-486-6547, kprice@frbir.com, both of Financial Relations
Board, for LiveUniverse Inc.

Web site: http://www.livevideo.com/SaveStage6

---

Profile: International Entertainment