CME, FORTUNE Announce Futures, Options On FORTUNE e-50, FORTUNE 500 Indexes

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and FORTUNE announced today that FORTUNE has licensed the CME to offer new, high-profile products based on indexes developed by the magazine's editors. Pending regulatory approval, the exchange will develop and trade futures and options contracts on the FORTUNE e-50 Index and the FORTUNE 500 Index. The announcement marks FORTUNE's first agreement to license its indexes to an exchange for the purpose of developing derivative products. The FORTUNE 500 Index is based on FORTUNE's signature list of America's 500 biggest companies, ranked by revenues. The FORTUNE e-50 Index, announced in the December 6, 1999 issue of FORTUNE, is designed to track the performance of companies shaping the Internet economy, and includes firms that generate a significant share of their revenues from online products or services, as well as those that provide and maintain the Internet infrastructure. The CME captured 92 percent of U.S. volume and open interest in stock index futures and options on futures for 1999. The exchange trades a larger dollar volume in equity index products than any other exchange in the world. "As the global leader in trading stock index products, we are delighted to team up with the prestigious FORTUNE Group in order to expand the universe of choices for individual and institutional investors alike," said CME Chairman Scott Gordon. Jack Haire, President of the FORTUNE Group, said: "FORTUNE is pleased to join forces with the world's premier futures marketplace. We believe that the FORTUNE e-50 Index and FORTUNE 500 Index will give investors the best set of tools with which to measure the full promise of the new economy." The FORTUNE e-50 Index will be the first Internet index futures to trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The FORTUNE e-50 futures and options contracts will be sized to appeal to individual investors who want to participate in the burgeoning Internet sector, as well as institutions using the product for risk management or asset allocation purposes. CME President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNulty said: "The editors of FORTUNE have identified the well capitalized, high growth players of the new Internet economy and devised an index that will help investors participate in this sector with greater levels of liquidity." John Huey, Managing Editor of FORTUNE, said: "On the occasion of FORTUNE's 70th anniversary, we are proud to announce two indexes that embody FORTUNE's commitment to carefully tracking the forces that are shaping our economy." CME Chairman Emeritus and Senior Policy Advisor Leo Melamed, who was instrumental in the exchange's original launch of stock index futures, said: "This new arrangement between the Merc and FORTUNE is symbolic of the current wave in the new electronic age which combines respected brand names in order to create maximum synergy for the launch of new products." Both indexes were set to a base level of 1000.00 as of the close of trading on December 31, 1999, and real-time values are calculated every 15 seconds during the trading day. More details on the indexes will be published in the March 6 issue of FORTUNE, due on newsstands early next week, and will be accessible through the FORTUNE Web site at www.fortune.com. The CME will also be releasing more details on the futures and options contracts. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange introduced the world's first successful stock index futures in 1982 with the S&P 500 Stock Index contract. It soon built a successful equity index complex, including Nasdaq 100 Index futures and options introduced in 1996. The exchange reinvented index trading once again in 1997 with the introduction of the E-mini S&P 500, electronically traded contracts geared toward individual investors. That product quickly grew to become the CME's third largest futures contract and inspired the 1999 launch of E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures. In the past week, the E-mini Nasdaq 100 and E-mini S&P 500 futures contracts have set new daily volume records. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange trades futures and options on futures also on foreign currencies, interest rates and agricultural commodities, as well as weather derivatives. The FORTUNE Group at Time Inc. is comprised of FORTUNE, FSB: FORTUNE Small Business, and the soon to be launched eCompany Now (May 2000), and is part of the Time Inc. family of companies. FORTUNE, a bi-weekly business magazine, is known for its unrivaled access to industry leaders and decision-makers. With a worldwide circulation of 965,000, and a worldwide readership of more than six million, FORTUNE reaches a wide and influential audience every two weeks. FSB: Fortune Small Business (formerly YOUR COMPANY magazine) is published as a joint venture between Time Inc. and American Express Small Business Services. eCompany Now, a monthly magazine and Web site venture based in Silicon Valley, will cover the challenges and opportunities of doing business on the Internet.