Within the framework of a capital increase, the Carrefour Group has acquired a 20% holding in Webcity (www.webcity.fr), a "proximity" portal and generalist platform dedicated to local information and neighborhood services (cinema, agenda, directory, maps, local news, etc.). Webcity is France's leading Internet site in terms of the production of local editorial content, and is present in 37 cities. Through this acquisition, Carrefour is positioning itself on the neighborhood Internet site market and will provide Webcity with the financial resources necessary to develop both services and marketing operations.

This corporate agreement will allow Webcity to consolidate its position as leader in France and accelerate its European development. The objective of both Carrefour and Webcity is to provide a complete range of services accessible from any electronic medium: practical local information, restaurant reservations, a list of interesting events in the city, online shopping and a host of promotional online offerings…

The strategic views of Carrefour and Webcity are identical in this respect: proximity makes it possible to create services and content with high added value for consumers, and the Internet is the ideal means of servicing this growing market demand.

Commenting on the investment, Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO and founder of Webcity, declared: "The investment made by the Carrefour Group allows us to assure our development in France and on an international level. The synergies that were seeking to develop in the "real world" are now possible. We have many projects for Webcity (as well as other vertical sites based on proximity) that we can develop with partners in extremely varied domains.
" Webcity, whose shareholders now comprise Carrefour, Dassault Développement and Auriga Partners, has thus confirmed its determination to accelerate development in a highly competitive sector, that the company inaugurated in 1998.

Webcity.fr
Webcity (www.webcity.fr), France's leading neighborhood media-portal, was created in March 1998 by Alexandre Dreyfus (22 years old) in Lyon. The Webcity network covers 37 French cities, presenting City-Guides that provide interesting deals, ideas, and solutions to fully benefit from the city. Webcity has established many partnerships with leading Internet players in France, and provides its expertise to countless web surfers for whom the practical local information found on the sites is part of their daily lives. Webcity works with 80 collaborators spread out over all of France and generates 2.5 million pages read by 200,000 individual visitors.

Press Contacts: Webcity.fr: Alexandre Dreyfus / Founder - CEO / adreyfus@webcity.fr Jérôme Falcon / Communications Director / jfalcon@webcity.fr
Tel. : +33 4.72.40 03 00 / Fax : + 33 4.72.40 04 54 / http://www.webcity.fr
Carrefour: Christian d'OLEON / Christian HONORE Tel. : +33 1. 40. 70. 11. 89