Founded in 1998 by William R. Hambrecht, WR Hambrecht + Co is a financial services firm committed to using the Internet and auction process to level the playing field for investors and issuers. The firm’s impartial Internet-based auctions, which allow the market to determine pricing and allocation, are dramatically changing the financial services landscape. OpenIPO?, for example, levels the playing field in initial public offerings, allowing individuals and institutional investors to bid online for shares of an IPO. All investors end up paying the same price ？C a price determined by the auction. OpenBook?, an auction for corporate bonds, is an online system that offers transparent, real-time price discovery. OpenFollowOn? extends the transparency and real-time price discovery of OpenBook to follow-on equity offerings allowing interactive bidding and gives investors a view into the book as it builds. WR Hambrecht + Co continues to identify markets where auctions will benefit investors and issuers. Freddie Mac, one of the biggest buyers of home mortgages in the United States, used WRH+Co’s core technology in a customized web-based auction for its two- and three-year Reference Note and its Periodic Repurchase Operations raising a total of $102 billion over a two-year period. In May 2001, the WRH+Co auction channel was used to allocate a portion of a traditional initial public offering. Instinet priced 32.5 million shares at $14.50. All investors who bid $14.50 or higher through the auction were allocated, on a pro rata basis, a total of 5.6 million shares or 17.5% of the total offering. Unlike in a typical traditional offering, there was an almost even split between individuals and institutions who were allocated shares. WR Hambrecht + Co provides underwriting and advisory services for technology and emerging growth companies, as well as equity research, sales and trading, brokerage and private equity offerings. WR Hambrecht + Co’s real-time, in-depth proprietary research is available to all investors at www.wrhambrecht.com. WR Hambrecht + Co is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Stamford, CT, Chicago, Montreal, and London. The firm has financial backing from industry leaders including American Century, Crimson Ventures, epartners, Fidelity Ventures, Instinet Corporation, Novell, Park Avenue Equity Capital Partners, LP, Scudder Kemper, Texas Pacific Group, and W Capital Partners.