Smartmoney.com and Netzero Sign Content and Marketing Agreement

Alliance Provides NetZero Subscribers With News, Financial Analysis and Insight from SmartMoney.com

March 26, 2001 - New York, NY - SmartMoney.com (http://smartmoney.com), a trusted source of financial news, financial planning and market tools, today announced a content and marketing agreement with NetZero, Inc. (Nasdaq: NZRO), a leading provider of free and pay Internet access services. Under the agreement, SmartMoney.com becomes the premier provider of financial news information to NetZero, and provides links from NetZero to SmartMoney.com's award-winning investing information and daily articles, exposing NetZero's more than 8.4 million registered users to a wide variety of content and tools on SmartMoney.com.

As part of this agreement, SmartMoney will provide content on NetZero's ZeroPort, the service's personal navigational tool that stays with the user wherever they go on the Web. SmartMoney will also be featured as the "Top Finance News" channel on the "Best of the Net" start page, the initial page displayed when a user logs on to the NetZero Internet access service.

"We are excited to announce this new relationship with one of the world's leading ISPs," said Lou Tosto, General Manager of SmartMoney.com. "Our goal is to expose as many new users as possible to SmartMoney.com's content on a new platform, and we look forward to offering NetZero subscribers the ability to link quickly and easily to SmartMoney.com's personal finance and investment information."

"Our primary goal is to enhance the online experience for our subscribers by helping them find the most interesting and relevant content online," said Brian Woods, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, NetZero. "Our alliance with SmartMoney.com provides our subscribers with financial information, when they need it most. We believe this partnership is yet another way we're adding significant value to the services we provide to our subscribers."

About NetZero
NetZero, Inc. is a leading provider of free and pay Internet access services, offering a broad range of interactive marketing, research and measurement solutions. NetZero offers consumers high-quality Internet access, a choice of popular e-mail programs and convenient navigation tools that provide "speed dial" to key sites on the Internet. Through proprietary technologies, NetZero offers advertisers unique targeting capabilities through numerous online advertising and sponsorship channels. The company's CyberTarget division offers marketers and advertisers mass-scale, online market research and measurement services. NetZero is a Cisco Powered Network, offering its access services to approximately 8.4 million registered users in more than 5,000 cities across the United States and in Canada. For more information, please visit www.netzero.net. To obtain a CD, please call 1-800-DEFENDER.

About SmartMoney.com
SmartMoney.com (www.smartmoney.com) is a free investment news, tools and advice site operated by a full-time staff of more than 100 SmartMoney.com reporters, editors, technicians, software programmers and Web designers. It is known not only for SmartMoney-style credibility in its reporting, but also for its proprietary interactive tools, which have received much critical acclaim, including two consecutive awards for "Personal Finance and Interactivity" from the Investing Companies Institute/American University Education Foundation and a Gold Medal for interactive media design from I.D., the noted international design magazine. SmartMoney.com also licenses its award-winning Java-based applications to other notable financial sites. SmartMoney is a joint venture of Hearst Communications, Inc. and Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; dj.com).

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others; NetZero's unproven model and limited operating history; the company's ability to grow its user base, generate advertising revenues and decrease telecommunications costs; and the effects of competition for users and advertisers. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in the company's most recent Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange commission (http://www.sec.gov) including (without limitation) information under the captions "Management's Discussion and of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors." NetZero®, Defenders of the Free World®, the NetZero logo, zCast®, CyberTarget(tm), NZTV(tm) and The ZeroPort(tm) - are trademarks of NetZero, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SmartMoney is a registered trademark of SmartMoney, a joint publishing venture of Hearst Communications, Inc. and Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.