THE DEAL INTRODUCES TECH CONFIDENTIAL, PROVIDING INSIGHT ON THE GLOBAL CROSSROADS OF TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND FINANCE

November 1, 2004-NEW YORK, N.Y.-The Deal LLC, the authoritative voice for news, analysis and information on the global deal economy, today debuts a preview edition of Tech Confidential, a business magazine focusing on the global intersection of technology, strategy and finance.

Ed Paisley, managing editor of the award-winning The Deal and financial newspaper The Daily Deal, has been named the editor. Paisley has been the lead editor of the company's expanding editorial coverage of technology over the past four years. During that period, one of the most disruptive eras in tech history between the Internet, broadband, life sciences and the stock market bubble, Paisley and his team increasingly examined the effects of business and finance decisions not just upon technology investors and corporate managers but upon their customers as well.

In developing Tech Confidential, their editorial vision is to explain the complex interchange between business and finance decision making in an era defined by efficiency and innovation, on a global scale.

"By launching Tech Confidential, we aim to provide sober and intelligent coverage of the complexities of technology for corporate decision making. Technology is a pervasive factor in setting business strategy in corporate America," said Kevin Worth, president and CEO of The Deal. "We think that there is a need for a sophisticated business of technology publication that's written exclusively for business leaders; one that targets knowledgeable professionals responsible for leading global enterprises."

The 32-page preview edition carries full-page advertisements from the following marketers: SAP, Siebel Systems, Interwoven, Gray Cary, Intralinks, Jefferies, Merrill Corp. and Preston Gates & Ellis.

Tech Confidential is bound with the centerfold of The Deal's November 1 issue, providing the financial newsweekly's entire readership with copies of the new publication. In 2005, Tech Confidential will be published every other month starting in May, and will be poly-bagged with The Deal to 25,000 C-suite corporate executives.

About The Deal LLC
The Deal LLC is a diversified media company that is the authoritative voice of the deal economy. We serve the global deal community - corporate and financial dealmakers, advisers and institutional investors - by providing business and financial news and information that offers fresh insights on the deal economy, a set of interrelated activities, focused on dealmaking of all kinds, whose purpose is to generate corporate growth in a continually changing global market. We offer a comprehensive line of print and electronic product and services for both readers and advertisers, including The Deal, The Daily Deal, TheDeal.com, Corporate Dealmaker, Tech Confidential, Corporate Control Alert, Auction Block, Bankruptcy Insider, Deal Focus and VCDeal.com. Investors in The Deal, a privately held company, include majority owner U.S. Equity Partners, a private investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. LP, and Rustic Canyon Ventures, one of the largest venture capital funds in Southern California.