Class Action Lawsuit Commenced Against Autoweb.com, Inc.

    PHILADELPHIA, May 18 A class action lawsuit was filed in
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (500 Pearl
Street, New York, New York), 2001 on behalf of all persons and entities who
purchased, converted, exchanged or otherwise acquired the common stock of
Autoweb.com, Inc. between March 22, 1999 and April 18, 2001,
inclusive.  The lawsuit asserts claims under Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated by the SEC thereunder and seeks to
recover damages.  The complaint alleges that Autoweb.com, Inc., Dean A.
DeBiase, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Farhang Zamani and Payam
Zamani, its founders, and Directors Mark N. Diker, Jay C. Hoag, Mark R. Ross
and Peter S. Sealey violated the federal securities laws by issuing and
selling Autoweb.com common stock pursuant to the March 22, 1999 IPO without
disclosing to investors that some of the underwriters in the offering,
including the lead underwriters, had solicited and received excessive and
undisclosed commissions from certain investors.

    In exchange for the excessive commissions, the complaint alleges, lead
underwriters Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation and BancBoston Robertson
Stephens, Inc., together with underwriters Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.,
Incorporated and Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. allocated Autoweb.com shares to
customers at the IPO price of $14.00 per share.  To receive the allocations
(i.e., the ability to purchase shares) at $14.00, the underwriters' brokerage
customers had to agree to purchase additional shares in the aftermarket at
progressively higher prices.  The requirement that customers make additional
purchases at progressively higher prices as the price of Autoweb.com stock
rocketed upward (a practice known on Wall Street as "laddering") was intended
to (and did) drive Autoweb.com's share price up to artificially high levels.
This artificial price inflation, the complaint alleges, enabled both the
underwriters and their customers to reap enormous profits by buying stock at
the $14.00 IPO price and then selling it later for a profit at inflated
aftermarket prices, which rose as high as $41.00 during its first day of
trading.

    Rather than allowing their customers to keep their profits from the IPO,
the complaint alleges, the underwriters required their customers to "kick
back" some of their profits in the form of secret commissions.  These secret
commission payments were sometimes calculated after the fact based on how much
profit each investor had made from his or her IPO stock allocation.

    Plaintiff is represented by The Law Offices of Marc S. Henzel.  If you are
a member of the class described above, you have until June 22, 2001, to
participate in the case and ask the Court to appoint you as one of the lead
plaintiffs for the Class.  In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you
must meet certain legal requirements.  You do not need to seek appointment as
a lead plaintiff in order to share in any recovery.

    If you have any questions concerning this case or your rights or interests
with respect to these matters, please contact: Marc S. Henzel, Esq. of The Law
Offices of Marc S. Henzel, 210 West Washington Square, Third Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106, by telephone at (888) 643-6735 or (215) 625-9999, by
facsimile at (215) 440-9475, by e-mail at Mhenzel182@aol.com or visit the
firm's website at http://members.aol.com/mhenzel182.