eCollege Cracks Top Five Fastest Growing Colorado Tech Companies for Third Straight Year
– October 7, 2003 – eCollege(SM) [Nasdaq: ECLG], a leading provider of outsource eLearning solutions for online post-secondary education programs, today announced it was named fourth on Deloitte & Touche’s prestigious Colorado Technology Fast 50 List, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Colorado based on five-year revenue growth.
“We are extremely proud to be recognized among the top five fastest growing companies on the list for the third consecutive year,” said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. “By serving the high growth, post-secondary education market through quality products and services, we succeed and our customers succeed.”
Rankings are based on the percentage of growth in fiscal year revenues from 1998-2002. eCollege’s five-year increase in revenues of 1,323 percent resulted in a fourth place ranking overall in the Colorado Technology Fast 50. The average increase in revenues among companies that made the Colorado Technology Fast 50 this year was 527 percent.
To qualify for the Technology Fast 50, a company must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 1998 and $1,000,000 in 2002, must be a public or private company headquartered in North America, and be a “technology company,” which is defined as owning proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company’s operating revenues, and/or devoting a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology.
“The Deloitte & Touche Colorado Technology Fast 50 companies have shown the strength, vision and temerity to succeed despite a very challenging technology environment,” said Steve Yaroch of Deloitte & Touche’s Colorado Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice. “We applaud eCollege’s success and acknowledge its place as one of the very few to accomplish such a tremendous growth rate over the past five years.”
Winners of the 20 regional Technology Fast 50 programs in the United States and Canada automatically are entered in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 program, which ranks North America’s top 500 fastest growing technology companies. For more information on the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 or Fast 500 programs, visit www.fast500.com About Deloitte & Touche About eCollege This news release contains statements that are not historical in nature and that may be characterized as “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws including those related to the performance of our technology and service solution, customer satisfaction with our products and services, and the success of our clients’ programs. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results may differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our clients’ ability to achieve successful online programs, our network infrastructure and computer systems failing, the vulnerability of our network to security risks, and such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Form 10-Q Quarterly Report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which you are encouraged to review in connection with this release. We believe that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release. eCollege is a service mark of eCollege. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Kristi B. Emerson
Public Relations Manager
Deloitte & Touche, one of the nation’s leading professional services firms, provides assurance and advisory, tax, and management consulting services through nearly 30,000 people in more than 80 U.S. cities. The firm is dedicated to helping its clients and its people excel. Known as an employer of choice for innovative human resources programs, Deloitte & Touche has been recognized as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” by Fortune magazine for six consecutive years. Deloitte & Touche refers to Deloitte & Touche LLP and related entities. Deloitte & Touche is the U.S. national practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity. For more information, please visit Deloitte & Touche’s Web site at www.deloitte.com/us
eCollege [Nasdaq: ECLG] is a leading eLearning outsource provider of technology and services to educational markets. The Company designs, builds and supports some of the most successful, fully online degree, certificate/diploma and professional development programs in the country. eCollege’s customers include publicly-traded for-profit institutions, community colleges, public and private universities, school districts, and state departments of education. The Company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Denver. For more information, visit www.eCollege.com
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