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OptiMark Technologies Elects New Board Members

Jersey City, NJ - December 15, 1999 - OptiMark Technologies, Inc. today announced the election of Ronald D. Fisher of SOFTBANK Holdings Inc. and Kenneth D. Pasternak of Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. to its Board of Directors.

"All of us at OptiMark are extremely pleased that these talented individuals have accepted our invitation to join OptiMark's board," said Phillip J. Riese, Chief Executive Officer of OptiMark Technologies, Inc. "Ken and Ron are key drivers of electronic markets, globally. Their personal knowledge and expertise will be invaluable to OptiMark in furthering the application of our unique matching capabilities for equities trading and other markets." Ronald D. Fisher is the Vice-Chairman of SOFTBANK Holdings Inc. and a Director of SOFTBANK Corporation. In this capacity, Mr. Fisher oversees SOFTBANK's activities in the United States. Mr. Fisher also manages SOFTBANK Capital Partners LP and he represents SOFTBANK Corporation in the activities of SOFTBANK Technology Ventures. Prior to joining SOFTBANK in 1995, Mr. Fisher was, for six years, Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Technologies, Ltd., the leading developer of system software products for personal computers. Earlier, he was President of INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. Mr. Fisher served that company for over five years, initially as Chief Operating Officer and later as Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career, he held senior executive positions at Visicorp, TRW, and ICL. Mr. Fisher also serves as Director of Insweb Corporation, Message Media Inc., Phoenix Technologies, Ltd. and Ziff-Davis Inc. Mr. Fisher holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and an MBA from Columbia University. In July, SOFTBANK Capital Partners LP made an initial investment in OptiMark.

Kenneth D. Pasternak is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE). Under Mr. Pasternak's leadership, Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. has become the largest wholesale market maker in U.S. equity securities and the number one execution destination for trades placed via the Internet. Knight executes more than 30 percent of all on-line trades. Knight grew out of Roundtable Partners, LLC, a venture that Mr. Pasternak helped start in 1994. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president, limited partner and trading room manager at Spear Leeds & Kellogg/Troster Singer from 1979 to 1994. Mr. Pasternak also serves on the board of directors of BRASS Utility, LLC (BRUT), EASDAQ and ISE. He was selected as the 1999 New Jersey Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year®. Ken received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 from the State University of New York at New Paltz. On November 2, OptiMark and Knight/Trimark Group announced plans to channel orders through the OptiMark Trading System.

OptiMark Technologies, Inc., a privately held company, designs and builds matching facilities for markets and exchanges that benefit buyers and sellers by increasing efficiency and fairness while lowering the cost of trading. OptiMark Trading Systems operate today as facilities of the Pacific Exchange for trading listed equities and the Nasdaq Stock Market for trading OTC equities. OptiMark's major shareholders include General Atlantic Partners, SOFTBANK, American Century, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and PaineWebber. OptiMark is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. Additional information on the company is available at www.OptiMark.com.

 

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