Re Economist Agreement

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
1 March 2001

 BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING AND ECONOMIST.COM TO CREATE ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING
                      ONLINE BUSINESS REFERENCE SERVICES



London, 1st March, 2001:  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc ('Bloomsbury') and The
Economist Group ('Economist.com') today announced a deal aimed at creating the
world's leading online business reference service.  Bloomsbury has licensed
part of their massive business database to the website of this respected
publication in an eighteen-month non-exclusive deal for an undisclosed sum.

The source of the content is part of the massive Business database currently
being compiled by Bloomsbury's world-wide electronic reference team under the
deal announced last year with the US Publishing house, Perseus Books Group ('
Perseus'). Bloomsbury and its US partner Perseus will publish the database in
print form in the US, UK and around the world in 2002.  The licensing of the
electronic database to third parties provides Bloomsbury with a further
potential source of income for its Media and Electronic Reference Division.

The new Economist.com on-line service will be aimed at managers and business
executives, allowing them easy access to a vast array of business reference
information at the click of a mouse.  The service - which will be regularly
updated - will give information on industries and sectors, countries, economic
trends, key business individuals  and a lot more. The online service will be
available through www.economist.com in early 2002.



Bloomsbury have compiled two other major databases in partnership with
international partners; the Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary already
published in both electronic and printed format and the English Language
Teaching Database being developed and to be published in late 2001 in
partnership with Macmillan Heinemann.

Making the announcement, Bloomsbury Publishing Chief Executive Nigel Newton
said:

'This is a significant deal for us and it demonstrates the exploitable value
of the business database.  Unlike previous arrangements, this licence is
non-exclusive and for a limited period allowing us total flexibility to sell
the content to a wide variety of customers.'



He added:

'For the first time business people will be able to reach a one-stop-shop
source of information about the world of business and finance from their PC or
laptop wherever they are in the world. The combination of The Economist Group,
one of the world's leading authorities on business and economics,  alongside
Bloomsbury's expertise in compiling huge, quality reference databases, means
we have no doubts at all that this new service will quickly become an everyday
tool for the business community.'

Helen Alexander, Chief Executive of the Economist Group said:

'The addition of Bloomsbury's reference database to Economist.com underlines
our commitment to providing Economist customers with an unrivalled source of
online business information.'

                                     ENDS

Contacts:

Bloomsbury Publishing

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive -  Tel: [phone]

Impact Consultancy:

John Barrington-Carver - Tel: [phone]