MicroStrategy® Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR), a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence software, today announced that electrical retailer Comet has chosen the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform™ to deliver new management information to its purchasing teams and improve buying

McLean, VA (November 08, 2004) –

MicroStrategy® Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR), a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence software, today announced that electrical retailer Comet has chosen the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform(TM) to deliver new management information to its purchasing teams and improve buying strategies.

Using MicroStrategy, Comet’s new DPP (Direct Product Profitability) application will not only give its product category managers information on the gross margin of each product but also present them with a profit and loss account for their entire range, by integrating data from various sources. Following a successful pilot, DPP is now being used by all category managers at Comet’s UK headquarters.

“Enabling our commercial teams to see how much revenue is in each product – not only taking the cost and selling price of each unit into consideration but also distribution, service, warranty and delivery costs – affects buying behaviour and Comet’s profitability,” explained Andy Hicketts, IS Development Controller, Comet. “By having a single integrated BI platform from MicroStrategy we can easily manage reporting to all our category managers, confident we are dealing with one set of consistent and reliable data.”,

Chris Kent, Pricing Team Controller at Comet confirmed: “DPP is giving us information on brands and products that was just not available before. Now decisions are made taking the true profitability of the product into account and not just margin, as we would have done traditionally.”

The DPP project is the latest phase in Comet’s management information strategy using MicroStrategy. Last year Comet gave its 250 store managers access to sales analysis and reporting for the first time in a six-figure project, allowing them to share information, best practices and increase sales. Some stores increased profits by up to 20 percent as a result.
About Comet

Comet has 250 stores throughout the UK, which offer a wide range of the most up to date home electricals at ‘Every Day Low Prices’. On average 34,000 competitor prices are checked every week to ensure that the lowest prices are maintained. Comet customers can also shop direct by telephone on 08705 425 425, online at www.comet.co.uk or log on to the UK’s first major retail auction website at www.clearance-comet.co.uk. Comet is pleased to support NCH as its national charity for 2003/04 and has pledged to raise £250,000 for this worthwhile cause.
About MicroStrategy

Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy is a worldwide leader in the increasingly critical business intelligence software market. Leading Fortune 2000 companies are integrating MicroStrategy’s industrial-strength software into virtually all facets of their businesses. The MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform(TM) distills vast amounts of data into vital, probing insight to help drive cost-efficiency, productivity, customer relations and revenue-generation.

MicroStrategy offers exceptional capabilities — excellent scalability, powerful analytics, user-friendly query and reporting features and an outstanding, easy-to-use Web interface. Top companies are using MicroStrategy to cost-effectively harness large, multi-terabyte databases; empower thousands of employees at all operational levels; and extend the benefits of business intelligence enterprise-wide and beyond to customers, partners and suppliers.

MicroStrategy has over 2,800 enterprise-class customers, including General Motors, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, Yahoo!, Visa International, Wells Fargo, Telecom Italia, AT&T Wireless Group and Aventis. MicroStrategy also has relationships with over 500 systems integrators and application development and platform partners, including IBM, PeopleSoft, Sun, HP, and Teradata, a division of NCR. MicroStrategy is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol MSTR. For more information or to purchase or demo MicroStrategy’s software, visit MicroStrategy’s Web site at http://www.microstrategy.com.

MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy 7, MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform, MicroStrategy Report Services, and MicroStrategy 7i are either trademarks or registered trademarks of MicroStrategy Incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release may include statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements,” including its estimates of future business prospects or financial results and statements containing the words “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “expect” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results of MicroStrategy Incorporated and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could contribute to such differences include: the ability of the Company to implement and achieve widespread customer acceptance of its MicroStrategy 7i and MicroStrategy Report Services software on a timely basis; the Company’s ability to recognize deferred revenue through delivery of products or satisfactory performance of services; continued acceptance of the Company’s products in the marketplace; the timing of significant orders; delays in the Company’s ability to develop or ship new products; market acceptance of new products; competitive factors; general economic conditions; currency fluctuations; and other risks detailed in the Company’s registration statements and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

MicroStrategy is a registered trademark of MicroStrategy Incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Marc Brailov
MicroStrategy Incorporated
(703) 770-1670
mbrailov@microstrategy.com

Source: MicroStrategy