FILED BY E*TRADE GROUP, INC. PURSUANT TO RULE
                                            425 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
                                                                SUBJECT COMPANY:
                                              WEB STREET, INC., FILE NO. 0-27705

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


E*TRADE Media Contact
---------------------
Heather Fondo
E*TRADE Group, Inc.
650-331-5774
hfondo@etrade.com

E*TRADE Investor Relations Contact
----------------------------------
Erica Gessert
E*TRADE Group, Inc.
415-932-5765
egessert@etrade.com


              E*TRADE GROUP, INC. EXTENDS THE SUBSEQUENT OFFERING
                PERIOD OF ITS TENDER OFFER FOR WEB STREET, INC.
                                TO JULY 30, 2001

MENLO PARK, Calif. - July 16, 2001 - E*TRADE Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET) announced
today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Opus Acquisition Corp., is extending
the expiration date of the subsequent offering period of its offer to acquire
all outstanding shares of common stock of Web Street. As a consequence of the
extension of the expiration date, holders of Web Street common stock may tender
shares until midnight, Eastern time, on Monday, July 30, 2001. The subsequent
offering period was previously scheduled to expire at midnight on Friday, July
13, 2001. Web Street shares tendered in the subsequent offering period will be
immediately accepted and will be exchanged promptly for E*TRADE common stock at
the exchange ratio of 0.1864 share of E*TRADE common stock for each share of
common stock of Web Street. Web Street stockholders that tender their shares in
the subsequent offering period will not have the right to withdraw tendered
shares.

     The initial period of the offer expired at midnight, Eastern time, on
Friday, June 29, 2001, and all shares validly tendered and not properly
withdrawn prior to that expiration have been accepted for exchange. In
addition, Web Street shares tendered through Friday, July 13, 2001, have been
immediately accepted for exchange. E*TRADE believes that approximately
23,384,038 Web Street shares, or 88.7% of the total issued and outstanding Web
Street shares, have been validly tendered and accepted for exchange pursuant to
the exchange offer, and that an additional 218,513



E*TRADE Group, Inc. Extends the Subsequent Offering period
Page 2


Web Street shares, or 0.8% of the total issued and outstanding Web Street
shares, have been tendered pursuant to guarantee of delivery.

     Web Street stockholders are urged to read the prospectus and the
solicitation/ recommendation statement relating to the offer and the merger.
These documents contain important information. Web Street stockholders can
obtain these documents, as well as the E*TRADE documents that are incorporated
by reference in the prospectus, for free at the Securities and Exchange
Commission's web site at http://www.sec.gov. These documents are also available
from E*TRADE without charge upon request to its information agent, Innisfree
M&A Incorporated, 501 Madison Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10022, banks and
brokers call collect: (212) 750-5833, all others call toll free: (888)
750-5834.

                                     # # #


Important Notice

E*TRADE, the E*TRADE logo and Stateless Architecture are registered trademarks
of E*TRADE Securities, Inc. The statements contained in this news release that
are forward-looking are based on current expectations that are subject to a
number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially.
The uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, failure of the
transaction to close due to the failure to obtain regulatory or other
approvals, failure of the Web Street stockholders to approve the merger, if
that approval is necessary, the risk that the Web Street business will not be
integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such integration, changes in
market activity, anticipated increases in the rate of new customer acquisition,
seasonality, the development of new products and services, the enhancement of
existing products and services, competitive pressures (including price
competition), system failures, economic and political conditions, changes in
consumer behavior and the introduction of competing products having
technological and/or other advantages. For a detailed discussion of these and
other cautionary statements, please refer to the registration statement filed
by E*TRADE with the SEC relating to this transaction. Further information about
these risks and uncertainties can be found in E*TRADE's Form 10K and Forms 10Q
filed with the SEC. System response and account access time may vary due to
market conditions, trading volume, system performance and other factors.