AutoNation recently announced that it will separate its automotive rental business from its automotive retail business in the form of a tax-free dividend of shares of the new automotive rental company to the shareholders of AutoNation. The company said it has received a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service regarding the distribution of the stock. AutoNation anticipates that the distribution of the stock will occur during the second half of January, 2000. Following the separation, AutoNation, Inc. will be focused solely on the automotive retail business. AutoNation’s automotive rental business, which includes Alamo, National and CarTemps USA, will be a free-standing public company, which in 1998 had revenue of about $3.5 billion.