ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF
Shareholders of First Union Corp. will find a surprise when they receive the banking company's annual report this week: A high-tech, interactive CD-ROM computer disk is tucked inside the front cover.
First Union said Wednesday it is the first in the nation to feature an electronic copy of its annual report along with an Internet browser and other information.
David Scanzoni, spokesman for the Charlotte, N.C., company, said First Union has no idea how many of its stockholders have the equipment - or the skill - to handle the data. But all 200,000 of them received the disk anyway. More than 12,000 of them live in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., the area served by First Union's Roanoke-based Virginia bank.
Scanzoni said each disk cost 75 cents to produce, or $150,000 for all. By contrast, each copy of the traditional printed report cost $2.25, or $450,000 for the lot.
The disk contains the equivalent of 400 pages of information. The presentation is loaded with sound, interactive screens, video clips of senior management and financial data that come to life with graphs, spreadsheets and animation.
The browser, developed by MCI and Netscape, automatically defaults to the company's home page, where consumers can apply for credit cards and loans, buy goods and services and check IRA information. Http:\www.firstunion.com is First Union's computer address.
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: color.by CNB