CarsDirect's Christine Bucklin Recognized Among 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry

LOS ANGELES--Sept. 26, 2005--Christine Bucklin, chief operating officer of CarsDirect and its parent company Internet Brands, Inc., has been named among 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry by Automotive News. Bucklin and her co-honorees are featured in a special September 26 issue of the publication and will be honored at a gala dinner in Detroit, sponsored by Automotive News.

100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry recognizes women who are leaders in the automotive field -- those who make major decisions and have significant influence at their companies. Automotive News published its first listing of the industry's top female executives in September 2000.

This is the second time Bucklin has received the prestigious award, having also been named one of the 100 Leading Women by Automotive News in 2000 when CarsDirect was in its second year of operation. Since that time the automotive website has grown into a market leader serving nearly every automaker, thousands of dealers, as well as over seven million car shoppers each month.

"I'm honored to once again be considered part of this select group who are leading the way in the automotive industry," said Bucklin. "It truly speaks to the impact CarsDirect and other high-quality automotive Internet companies have had in shaping automotive retailing over the past few years. Companies like ours provide an effective marketing channel for dealers, one of the best, most accountable advertising platforms for automakers, and serve as a valuable source of information for car buyers across the country."

Prior to joining the company in November 1999, Bucklin was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Idealab. She previously spent more than a decade with management consultants McKinsey & Company, where she was a partner and a leader in McKinsey's Automotive, Retailing, Marketing and Strategy Practices. Bucklin received a B.A., summa cum laude, in mathematics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Stanford. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Dartmouth.

"In all the automotive disciplines, women are steadily winning increased authority, and that's good not only for the women but for the auto industry," said Peter Brown, Automotive News associate publisher and editorial director.

The 2005 class of Automotive News' 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry emerged from a months-long nomination and judging process that attracted hundreds of entries from the United States, Canada and Mexico. The women are engaged in all aspects of the industry.

"We had a tremendous field of candidates to consider for our leading women list," said Mary Beth Vander Schaaf, editor of Automotive News' special issue. "Many of the women we selected have operational jobs. They work at auto companies, suppliers and dealerships. The list includes seven CEOs, three COOs, 12 presidents, 52 vice presidents, four plant managers and one race car driver."

Automotive News is a critical source of news, data, analysis and information for the North American auto industry for automakers, dealers and suppliers. For a complete listing of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry -- along with a career profile and photograph of each -- visit www.autonews.com.

About CarsDirect, a Division of Internet Brands, Inc.

Los Angeles-based CarsDirect is a division of Internet Brands (www.internetbrandsinc.com), a leading operator of media and e-commerce sites for "large ticket" consumer purchases, such as cars, real estate, mortgages and travel. The company empowers consumers to make better product choices and save money. Internet Brands' sites deliver superior content and consumer insight and have received dozens of "best-in-class" awards. With a flexible e-commerce platform, the company is selectively expanding into additional, high-value consumer markets.

Internet Brands' automotive division includes CarsDirect.com (www.carsdirect.com), Autos.com (www.autos.com) and Autodata Solutions (www.autodata.net). The company's real estate and finance division includes LoanStore.com (www.loanstore.com), LoanApp.com (www.loanapp.com) and BestRate.com (www.bestrate.com). Recently Internet Brands announced its entry into the travel market with the acquisition of two premier website properties in the vacation rentals segment: VacationHomes.com (www.vacationhomes.com) and Vamoose.com (www.vamoose.com).

Internet Brands was founded in 1998 as CarsDirect and added the new parent company name of Internet Brands in June 2005.