Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
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April 20, 2000, Thursday, Late Edition -
Final
Correction Appended
SECTION: Section
C; Page 8; Column 4; Business/Financial
Desk
LENGTH: 193 words
HEADLINE: Reader's Digest In Drug Venture
BYLINE: Bloomberg News
BODY:
The Reader's Digest Association, the
publisher of the No. 1 United States magazine by circulation, said yesterday
that it was creating a venture with a unit of Merck & Company to sell
discounted prescription drugs on the Internet.
The terms were not
disclosed. The venture, called Yourxplan, will offer members discounts on both
brand name and generic prescription drugs. Members can order the drugs by mail
or telephone, from the Internet or at more than 40,000
pharmacies across the United States, the companies said. Thomas
Ryder, the Reader's Digest chief executive, is directing the company into new
businesses, like the Internet, to capitalize on the company's brand name and
database of more than 100 million customer names. Mr. Ryder has said he wanted
to team up with other companies to sell health, financial services and other
products online, reducing the company's reliance on direct mail.
The
venture will be jointly run by Reader's Digest, based in Pleasantville, N.Y.,
and Merck-Medco, the Merck unit that manages prescription plans.
The
plan will charge an annual enrollment fee of $25 for individuals and $40 for
households. http://www.nytimes.com
CORRECTION-DATE: April 21, 2000, Friday
CORRECTION:
A brief report by Bloomberg News in
Business Day yesterday about a joint venture of the Reader's Digest Association
and Merck & Company to sell prescription drugs online misstated the United
States circulation ranking of Reader's Digest magazine. It is second, trailing
Modern Maturity, a bimonthly publication of AARP; it is not No. 1.
LOAD-DATE: April 20, 2000
