On March 12, 2008 —The Motley Fool and Microsoft Corp. announced the kickoff of The Motley Fool CAPS MSN Stock Challenge, an online investment contest created in response to the increasing popularity of the CAPS stock rating service on MSN. Contestants in The Motley Fool CAPS MSN Stock Challenge will create their own “fantasy” stock portfolio using the information from the CAPS community of investors, and then see how their portfolio performs over a period of 15 weeks. Through the competition, contestants will be able to learn about smart investment choices without risking real money while competing for amazing prizes weekly and a grand prize of $15,000 cash.

To win The Motley Fool CAPS MSN Stock Challenge, contestants must earn five charms in the MSN Charm Quest. Players are awarded charms throughout the course of the competition by completing certain tasks such as creating a blog or by reaching certain measurements of success such as having a stock pick with a score of 100 or more. The winners will be the three entrants who have earned all five charms and achieved the greatest increase in their portfolio value as measured from March 12, 2008, through June 26, 2008. The grand prize winner will receive $15,000 cash and the title of MSN CAPS Champ; the first runner-up will receive a four-day, three-night trip to New York; and the second runner-up will receive a four-day, three-night trip to Las Vegas.

In addition to a chance to win these prizes, all participants will be entered into a weekly sweepstakes to have a chance to win prizes such as gift cards, flat-panel TVs and much more. New CAPS users will earn a sweepstakes entry for registering for MSN CAPS and making seven stock picks, and earn an additional entry each time they log in. More information about the contest, including full official rules, is available at http://stockchallenge.msn.com.

“The MSN stock challenge is a great way for investors to both learn and put their investment ideas to work,” said John Keeling, senior vice president of Fool.com. “With the addition of CAPS community-generated stock ratings to the other financial tools found on MSN Money, anyone can get the information they need to create a stellar profile.”

“Cool, innovative new ways to help our consumers make smart financial decisions is what MSN Money is all about, and through this fun, fantasy game-like experience with The Motley Fool, we are doing exactly that in the investing arena,” said Chris Jolley, group manager for the Financial Products Group at Microsoft. “This is especially important given the current market conditions. We’re also excited to strengthen our relationship with The Motley Fool and continue collaborating with the company to help make the important task of investor education more fascinating.”

The Motley Fool CAPS on MSN is already one of the most popular services that rates stocks and tracks professional and individual investors to help provide market-beating investment ideas. Powered by a unique process, CAPS is a powerful yet easy-to-use research tool that harnesses investor sentiment and recommendations in real time, with more than 5,000 rated stocks generated from more than 1 million recommendations.

In May 2007, Microsoft and The Motley Fool first joined forces to offer Motley Fool CAPS through MSN Money, combining the intelligence and resources of the MSN Money and Motley Fool communities to help people make more educated decisions in the stock market. The strategic alliance enables users of MSN Money and Microsoft Money to get insight from the stock trading community and see how their picks perform compared with those of professional Wall Street analysts.