Data Broadcasting Completes Sale of Federal News Service

BEDFORD, MA, JANUARY 11, 2001 - DATA BROADCASTING CORPORATION (Nasdaq NM: DBCC) (DBC), a leading source of securities pricing, financial information and analytic tools to global institutional and retail investors, today completed the sale of its Federal News Service (FNS) operations to a corporation owned by Cort Randell, its current president and previous co-owner, and Cheryl Reagan, an investor, for approximately $4 million in cash. The sales consideration is equivalent to approximately nine times FNS's trailing EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.)

Stuart Clark, president and chief executive officer, commented, "This sale represents another step in our plan to streamline DBC's business and focus on our core mission of supplying critical financial data and analytics to institutional and retail investors. We have enjoyed working with Cort since the merger between DBC and FT Interactive Data took place and wish both him and FNS well."

FNS is a subscription service that provides transcripts of hearings, press conferences and interviews by U.S. government officials and disseminates market-moving statistics and other information from the federal government.

About Data Broadcasting Corporation

Data Broadcasting Corporation is a leading global provider of financial and business information to institutional, professional and individual investors. The company supplies time sensitive pricing, dividend, corporate action and descriptive information for more than 3.5 million securities traded around the world, including hard-to-value unlisted fixed income instruments. At the core of DBC's business are its extensive database expertise and technology resources. Its 8,000 institutional customers include most of the world's leading banks, brokerages, mutual funds and insurance companies.

DBC, with approximately 1,700 employees, is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts and has more than 20 offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, including the world's key financial centers of New York, London and Tokyo. Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO), an international media company whose businesses include the Financial Times Group, Pearson Television, and the Penguin Group, is a 60% shareholder in DBC.
Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Matters discussed in this release include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may be materially different. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the response of competitors to the company's new services, acceptance of the Internet as a valid real-time distribution platform by institutional customers, activity levels in the securities markets and other risk factors listed in the company's 10-K and 10-Q reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission.