FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN),
America's largest automotive retailer, today announced that it has completed
the divestiture of its outdoor advertising business to Infinity Outdoor, Inc.
of Phoenix, Arizona. In the transaction, Infinity Outdoor acquired all of the
outstanding capital stock of Republic Media Companies Holding Co. in exchange
for $104 million in cash. As part of the transaction, AutoNation also entered
into a three-year, $15 million advertising agreement with Infinity Outdoor.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001017/AUTONATIONLOGO)
The sale will result in a one-time, pre-tax gain of approximately
$50 million for AutoNation in the fourth quarter, 2000.
Republic Media operates an outdoor advertising business with approximately
1,300 billboard faces in the state of Florida.
AutoNation's decision to sell Republic Media is consistent with its goal
of focusing on its core automotive retail operations. Earlier this year,
AutoNation also spun-off to its shareholders its automotive rental operations
and divested of several non-core dealerships and real estate assets.
Commenting on the sale, AutoNation Chief Executive Officer Michael J.
Jackson said, "AutoNation has made exceptional progress this year in achieving
our goal of focusing on our core automotive retail business. The sale of
Republic Media substantially completes our program of divesting non-core
businesses and allows us to focus on further improving our automotive retail
business. Proceeds from the divestitures, together with the substantial cash
flow generated by our dealerships, have allowed us to reduce our debt and to
buy back our stock."
"The Republic Media assets will be a great addition to the Florida markets
we currently serve," said Wally Kelly, President and CEO of Infinity Outdoor,
Inc. "This will create even more opportunities to package media for our
customers."
Infinity Outdoor, Inc., is the largest outdoor advertising company in
North America. It operates approximately 117,000 bulletin, poster, mall and
transit advertising display faces and sports marketing services in 90 U.S., 13
Canadian and 44 Mexican top markets. Infinity Outdoor, Inc. is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, (NYSE: INF), which operates
over 1,127,000 additional billboard, bus and subway displays worldwide.
Infinity Broadcasting also owns 187 U.S. radio stations -- the majority of
which are in the nation's largest markets.
AutoNation, Inc., headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is America's
largest automotive retailer, on and off the web. AutoNation had 1999 revenue
of more than $20 billion, employs approximately 32,000 people and owns and
operates more than 400 automotive retail franchises in 17 states. The Company
ranked #63 on the 2000 Fortune 500 and was also ranked by Fortune magazine as
America's "Most Admired Automotive Retailer" in 2000. Additional information
is available at www.autonation.com.
SOURCE AutoNation, Inc.
CONTACT: Jim Donahue, AutoNation, 954-769-7208; or Tom Wisz,