Kaplan Fox Announces Class Action Lawsuit Against Merrill Lynch; Kaplan Fox Seeks To Recover Losses For Investors Who Purchased Homestore.com Common Stock

Business Wire, Feb 5, 2003

Business Editors & Legal Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2003

Kaplan Fox (kaplanfox.com) filed a class action against Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and Internet stock analyst and First Vice President of Merrill Lynch, Henry Blodget, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased the common stock of Homestore.com ("Homestore " or the "Company") (NASDAQ: HOMS) between September 8, 1999 and September 21, 2001 inclusive (the "Class Period").

The complaint alleges that Defendants violated the federal securities laws by issuing analyst reports regarding Homestore that recommended the purchase of Homestore common stock and which set price targets for Homestore common stock, without any reasonable factual basis. Furthermore, when issuing their Homestore analyst reports, the Defendants failed to disclose significant, material conflicts of interest which they had, in light of their use of Blodget's reputation and his Homestore analyst reports, to obtain investment banking business for Merrill Lynch. Furthermore, in issuing their Homestore analyst reports, in which they were recommending the purchase of Homestore common stock, the Defendants failed to disclose material, non-public, adverse information which they possessed about Homestore. Throughout the Class Period, the Defendants maintained a "BUY/BUY" or "ACCUMULATE/BUY" recommendation on Homestore in order to obtain lucrative financial deals for Merrill Lynch. As a result of Defendants' false and misleading analyst reports, Homestore common stock traded at artificially inflated levels during the Class Period.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of the Class and is represented by Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP. Our firm, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and New Jersey, has many years of experience prosecuting investor class actions and actions involving financial fraud. For more information about Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, you may visit our website at www.kaplanfox.com

If you are a member of the Class, you may move the court no later than February 17, 2003 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the Class. In order to serve as a lead plaintiff, you must meet certain legal requirements.

If you have any questions about this Notice, the action, your rights, or your interests, please e-mail us at mail@kaplanfox.com or contact:

Frederic S. Fox, Esq.               Laurence D. King, Esq.
Donald R. Hall, Esq.                Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP
Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP         555 Montgomery Street
805 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor        San Francisco, CA 94111
New York, NY 10022                  (415) 772-4700
(800) 290-1952                      Fax: (415) 772-4707
(212) 687-1980                      E-mail address: mail@kaplanfox.com
Fax: (212) 687-7714
E-mail address: mail@kaplanfox.com