American General Ventures Provides Build-to-Order Computers on Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Online Store

Business Wire, August 5, 1998

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 1998--American General Ventures, Inc. (OTC BB:AMGV), through its wholly owned subsidiary ACI Micro Systems, Inc. (ACI) announced that its Build-To-Order (BTO) desktop, tower and notebook computers are now available at Wal-Mart Online (www.wal-mart.com).

American General Ventures has been selected as the exclusive vendor for the Wal-Mart BTO computer program.

The Company began its partnership with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in 1995 by distributing its pre-configured computers through numerous Wal-Mart retail outlets. Because of the success ACI had with these retail stores, expanding its presence from eight to 70 stores in one year, the Company was asked in June 1997 to feature its computers on the retailer's new Internet storefront. ACI's "Avail" line of pre-configured computers has since occupied a prominent position on that web site and is consistently a featured item. The Company believes that the BTO computer program will greatly exceed the sales of previous programs as it allows consumers to custom configure a computer to their own particular desires and represents the fastest growing segment of the personal computer industry.

The Company also recently announced that it has implemented its own secure e-commerce web site to increase the marketing and distribution of its computer products via the Internet. The Company's web site (www.availpc.com) is promoted through Hotmail, a free e-mail service owned by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Hotmail's membership of over 16 million registered users makes it the world's largest free e-mail service. The Company's web site features a direct link to Wal-Mart's BTO web site.

    CONTACT: American General Ventures, Inc.
              Investor Relations, (719) 548-1616 x16