AutoZone Authorizes Additional Stock Repurchase; New Director Elected

MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 16 -- AutoZone, Inc. , today announced its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of an additional $500 million of the Company's common stock in connection with its ongoing share repurchase program. Including the above amount, the share repurchase authorization now totals $4.4 billion.

"AutoZone's strong financial health has allowed us to continue to repurchase our stock while maintaining strong credit ratios," said Michael Archbold, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "We will continue to opportunistically repurchase shares as long as it is accretive to earnings."

Also today, the Board of Directors elected Bill Rhodes as a new director. Mr. Rhodes was recently named President and Chief Executive Officer of AutoZone. Prior to that he served in various senior management positions at the Company, including Executive Vice President, Store Operations and Commercial, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Information Technology, and Vice President, Stores. He is active in the community, holding positions on the boards of the National Civil Rights Museum and the Partners Board of the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis. "We are privileged to add Bill to our board. His industry knowledge and experience ensure he will be a wonderful addition," said J.R. Hyde, III, AutoZone's Interim Chairman of the Board.

As of February 12, 2005, AutoZone sells auto and light truck parts, chemicals and accessories through 3,474 AutoZone stores in 48 states plus the District of Columbia in the U.S. and 67 AutoZone stores in Mexico and also sells the ALLDATA brand diagnostic and repair software. On the web, AutoZone sells diagnostic and repair information and auto and light truck parts through http://www.autozone.com/ .