San Jose, Calif. – August 13, 2001 -- Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that it has taken the leadership position in the BI marketplace, passing its long-term rival in business intelligence license revenue.

Measured by business intelligence software license revenue in its most recently reported quarters, Business Objects has:

• 1.5 times the relative market share of Cognos, Inc., of Ottawa, Canada
• 2.9 times the relative market share of the number three vendor
• 4.5 times the relative market share of the number four vendor

For more details on these figures and their sources, please see the section below.

"Software license revenue is the ultimate measure of a software company, and by this measure we now have a 50% lead over our historical archrival in this market," said Bernard Liautaud, chief executive officer of Business Objects. "We are proud that we have been able to establish this strong leadership through our consistent and focused execution in the marketplace."

Business Objects has also received a large number of strong third-party endorsements related to its products, vision, and business execution.

• On July 17^th, Gartner published a new report on the BI market, including a new version of the noted Gartner "Magic Quadrants," which map vendors along two key dimensions: ability to execute and vision. In the new enterprise business intelligence suites quadrant, Business Objects has top performance in the leaders category. (Source: Gartner Research Note M-14-0081, "BI Magic Quadrants," H. Dresner, July 2001.)
• In July 2000, IDC published its 2001 annual Information Access Tools (IAT) report. For the second year in a row, Business Objects has ranked in the #1 position worldwide, in the important query and reporting segment of the overall IAT market.
• On June 4^th, Business Objects received the "Business Intelligence Product of the Year" award in InfoWorld Magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
• On June 4^th, Business Objects was also ranked as a finalist in InfoWorld’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards for "Enterprise Application of the Year," along with IBM, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP. Business Objects placed third, and was the only business intelligence solution chosen as a finalist.
• In May 2000, Business Objects CEO Bernard Liautaud was named to Chief Executive Magazine’s 2001 "CEO 100" list, and was ranked in the top 10 of all CEOs in North America. The ranking was based on three-year shareholder return for large public companies having a single CEO during the three-year evaluation period (January, 1998 to December, 2000).

The figures presented in this analysis are based on software license revenue for the top four direct competitors of Business Objects in the business intelligence market (i.e., ad hoc query, reporting, and analysis). The figures represent the software license revenue for each vendor’s most recently reported fiscal quarter. The figures exclude revenue from services such as training and consulting. The figures exclude non-BI-related revenue from competitors engaged in both BI and other businesses (e.g., Cognos application development tools). The figures represent relative market share and are calculated by dividing Business Objects BI software license revenue in its most recently reported quarter by that of Cognos, and its number 3 and number 4 direct competitors. The relevant figures are Business Objects $61.0M, Cognos $41.4M, number three $21.2M, and number four $13.5M. All figures are rounded to one place after the decimal.

Business Objects is the world’s leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business intelligence lets organizations access, analyze, and share information internally with employees and externally with customers, suppliers, and partners. It helps organizations improve operational efficiency, build profitable customer relationships, and develop differentiated product offerings.

The company’s products include BusinessObjects 2000, the industry’s leading integrated business intelligence toolset and platform; and BusinessObjects Analytics, an integrated suite of enterprise analytic applications.

Business Objects pioneered the modern BI industry in 1990 by inventing a patented "semantic layer" that insulates users from the complexity of databases. In 1995, the company was first to focus on enterprise-scale BI deployments and today supports customers with more than 20,000 users. The company moved aggressively to the internet in 1997 by pioneering the market for BI extranets, a market that it continues to lead today. In 2000, the company delivered the industry’s first interactive mobile BI solution. Today, Business Objects continues to innovate, creating and delivering a unique vision for enterprise analytic applications.

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A full-text copy may be downloaded from the web; access http://www.businesswire.com/cnn and search on "Business Objects." Business Objects product inquiries should contact 800-527-0580.

Press Contact:

Tracy Eiler

BUSINESS OBJECTS

408/953-6031

tracy.eiler@businessobjects.com

Don Markley

BUSINESS OBJECTS

408/953-6054

don.markley@businessobjects.com