Buh-bye Autobytel Hello AutoWeb

EDITOR'S NOTE: "AutoWeb" is not a new name in the field of "hey, we can get you a better deal on a new car" scammy dot-bomb companies. It was a name previously used by the Zamani brothers - Payam and Farhang - in the late 1990's. By about 2001, after soaking investors for untold millions of dollars, AutoWeb was bought by Autobytel - another "hey, we can get you a better deal on a new car" dot-bomb IPO company. Autobytel wasn't truly a dot-bomb company as it was originally founded prior to the start of the public world wide web by Pete Ellis, a Southern California auto dealer who lost his franchised dealerships. Autobytel soaked investors for even more money than Autoweb, and over the past two decades has tried all sorts of twists and variations to make themselves profitable and relevant...something that appears to have completely or almost-completely evaded them. In recent years, Autobytel's notoriety has been eclipsed by TrueCar, yet another scammy "hey, we can get you a better deal on a new car" company that we have written about, and laughed at here on TheAutoChannel.com. So now Autobytel's management figures that it can solve nearly a quarter of a century of questionable operations by reverting to a name they acquired in the Autoweb acquisition more than 15 years ago. Perhaps they should have just tried bringing in a management team that knew something about sales and how to run a business.

In any event, the following is the press release issued on Columbus Day 2017, a quiet stock trading day. The press statement includes a lie (at the least, great puffery) about pioneering "the automotive Internet in 1995." The Auto Channel's presence on the Internet pre-dated Autobytel and Autoweb on the Internet, and we were not the first automotive entity on the Internet.

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 09, 2017; AutoWeb, Inc., a pioneer and leading provider of digital automotive services connecting in-market car buyers with dealers and OEMs, has completed the change of its name from Autobytel Inc. to AutoWeb, Inc. effective today. In connection with this name change, the company’s stock ticker symbol was changed from “ABTL” to “AUTO” on The Nasdaq Capital Market.

About AutoWeb, Inc.

AutoWeb, Inc. provides high-quality consumer leads, clicks and associated marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers throughout the United States. The company also provides consumers with robust and original online automotive content to help them make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the automotive Internet in 1995 and has since helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles, connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers, and has helped every major automaker market its brand online.

Available Information

Our corporate website is located at www.autoweb.com. At or through the Investor Relations section of our website we make available free of charge our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to these reports as soon as practicable after this material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC and The Nasdaq Stock Market. Our Code of Conduct and Ethics is available at the Corporate Governance link of the Investor Relations section of our website, and a copy of the code may also be obtained, free of charge, by writing to the Corporate Secretary, AutoWeb, Inc., 18872 MacArthur Boulevard, Suite 200, Irvine, California 92612-1400.

Investors and other interested parties can receive company news alerts and special event invitations by accessing the online registration form at investor.autoweb.com.