Blackboard Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering of Common Stock

Washington -- Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced today that its initial public offering of 5,500,000 shares of common stock has been priced at $14.00 per share. Blackboard has agreed to sell 3,650,000 shares, and its selling stockholders have agreed to sell 1,850,000 shares. In addition, Blackboard and its selling stockholders have granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 825,000 shares to cover over-allotments, if any, of which the first 401,062 shares would be sold by the selling stockholders and the remaining 423,938 shares would be sold by Blackboard. Blackboard will not receive any of the proceeds from the shares of common stock sold by its selling stockholders. The common stock will be quoted on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "BBBB" and is expected to begin trading today.

Credit Suisse First Boston LLC acted as lead manager for the offering and the co-managers were Banc of America Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC. A copy of the final prospectus related to this offering may be obtained from:

Credit Suisse First Boston LLC
Prospectus Department
One Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Telephone (212) 325-2580

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard is a leading provider of enterprise software and services to the education industry. The Company's product line consists of five software applications bundled in two suites, the Blackboard Academic Suite(TM) and the Blackboard Commerce Suite(TM). Blackboard's clients include colleges, universities, schools and other education providers, as well as textbook publishers and student-focused merchants that serve education providers and their students. Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices and staff in North America, Europe and Asia.
Web site: blackboard.com/

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Addendum added by The Carlyle Group:

According to the registration statement filed by the Company, Blackboard recorded revenues of $1.9 million in 1999, $12 million in 2000, $46.7 million 2001, $69.9 million in 2002, and $92.5 million in 2003. The stock was priced at $14 and it closed at $20.01 on its first day of trading, June 18, 2004.

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