A press release from Mandrakesoft:

Moreno Valley, CA; Paris, France ; July, 1st 2004 - Mandrakesoft, publisher of the Mandrakelinux distribution, and Edge IT a provider of support and services in the Linux market, reached a definitive agreement by which Mandrakesoft will acquire all outstanding shares of Edge-IT.

Founded in 2003, by some of the key employees of Open Care, the first European Linux support company, Edge-IT focuses on the delivery of services and support to the corporate market in France. It has 6 employees and counts among its customers, OECD, the world economic organization, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, an elite French Political Science School, and Prisma Presse, one of the top press group in France.

Existing Edge IT customers will keep receiving the same level of high quality services from the company, now backed by a worldwide Linux editor.

François Bancilhon, CEO of Mandrakesoft declared: "I am delighted that Edge-IT decided to join the Mandrakesoft family. They will bring to us their extensive knowledge of the corporate market, their strong expertise in delivering support and services and will be a great complement to our service team".

"We are very happy to join Mandrakesoft, this will allow us to grow more aggressively our corporate business and deliver better services to our current customers" said Patrice Lallement, CEO of Edge IT.

The acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings within a semester. It is to be performed by an exchange of stock. Globally, Edge IT shareholders will receive 70,000 Mandrakesoft shares, which represents 1.47% of outstanding Mandrakesoft shares.

The deal, which still needs to be approved by the Extraordinary General Meeting of Mandrakesoft shareholders, should close within a few months.

About Mandrakesoft

Mandrakesoft is the publisher of the popular Mandrakelinux operating system, one of the most full-featured and easy to use Linux systems available. The company offers its enterprise, government and educational customers a complete range of GNU/Linux and Open Source software and related services. Mandrakesoft products are available in more than 120 countries through dedicated channels and also from Mandrakestore.com, the company's online store. Number 1 in several countries, Mandrakesoft has won many awards for quality and technical innovation. "Born on the Internet" in late 1998, Mandrakesoft has offices in the United States and France. Mandrakesoft is traded on Paris Euronext Marché Libre (ISIN Code: FR0004159382/MLMAN; Reuters code: MAKE.PA) and the US OTC market (stock symbol MDKFF).

http://www.mandrakesoft.com