Encyclopaedia Britannica goes online… . .Free!

It is the oldest continuously published reference work in the English language and for the past 231 years door-to-door salesmen have made careers out of selling the Encyclopaedia Britannica to consumers by urging parents to put the world's knowledge on the home bookshelf with easy monthly payments. Now the entire, $1,250, 32-volume product is available on the Internet … for free!

The Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in trouble since the rise of the personal computer in the consumer market and the competition from low-cost CD-ROM-based encyclopaedias. The company was too late in the market for CD-ROM products to make an impact. While the company intends to continue marketing a 40-volume printed version, Encyclopaedia Britannica hopes revenues from selling advertising space on its Web site (www.britannica.com) will revitalize the financial performance of the company.

"This is a momentous day for knowledge seekers everywhere," said Don Yannias, chief executive of Britannica.com, a new company owned by the publisher and named for the Internet site that carries the material. "Purchasing Encyclopaedia Britannica was once a major milestone in a family's life, but today we are fulfilling our promise to make it more accessible to more people worldwide. Now everyone with access to the Internet can use Britannica.com as they wish, not only for the encyclopedia, but for the top-quality information and services we offer," Yannias added. In addition to the full text of Britannica, the site features news feeds from newspapers and news wires around the world; selected articles from more than 70 popular magazines including Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and The Economist; and a searchable directory of the Web's best sites, hosen by Britannica's editors.

Britannica, the brainchild of three Scotsmen, issued its first edition in 100 parts from 1768 to 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company came under U.S. ownership in 1901 and was later acquired by Chicago-based Sears, Roebuck and Co. In the 1940s, it was bought by William Benton. In 1995 the company, after losing money for several years, was sold to an investment group led by Swiss businessman Jacob Safra for an estimated $500 million.