000744 eMerge Interactive Advances on Wall StreetSebastian, FL - eMerge Interactive Inc., a business-to- business Value Chain Integrator serving the $40 billion U.S. beef production industry, announced that it has been added to the Russell 2000(r) and Russell 3000(r) Indexes, effective July 1, 2000. “eMerge Interactive's addition to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes is indicative of our success to date. As a part of these Indexes, we expect to gain greater visibility to a broader range of investors,” said Charles Abraham, eMerge Interactive's chief executive officer. “We expect that this added visibility will promote interest in our company, allowing us to educate investors about the value we bring to the cattle industry. Our objective is to improve the quality and safety of our nation's beef supply and increase profitability to every participant in the beef supply chain through our efficient e-marketplace, powerful information management infrastructure, and value-enhancing technologies.” Abraham continued, “Based on the opportunities afforded the cattle industry through our technology and the expanding acceptance by the industry, we expect eMerge to continue to achieve exceptional growth which will, in turn, increase shareholder value.” Every year, the Russell Indexes capture the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000. The largest 1,000 companies in the ranking comprise the Russell 1,000 Index while the remaining 2,000 companies become the widely used Russell 2000 Index. The Indexes, which are rebalanced annually, are used as stock portfolios by many passively managed mutual funds. More than $175 billion is invested in funds based on Russell's 21 U.S. equity indexes, including the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000, which were developed by the Frank Russell Company. eMerge Interactive currently has about 33 million shares outstanding and, at the closing price of $17.37 on July 10, 2000, had a total market capitalization of approximately $573.9 million. Other companies added to the Russell 3000 Index include: Internet Capital Group, a partnership company of eMerge Interactive; Ariba, Inc., Palm, Inc.; Puma Technology, Inc.; Retek, Inc.; Commerce One, Inc.; and Red Hat, Inc.
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