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[COMPANY LOGO] NEWS RELEASE
Tenet Healthcare Corporation
Headquarters Office
3820 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Tel 805.563.6855
Fax 805.563.6871
CONTACTS
Media: Harry Anderson (805) 563-6816
Investors: Paul Russell (805) 563-7188
TENET RECEIVES ENDORSEMENT OF TWO MAJOR GROUPS
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - SEPT. 28, 2000 - Tenet Healthcare Corporation
(NYSE: THC) announced today that two major organizations have voiced support for
management's nominees for director at Tenet's annual meeting on Oct. 11.
The endorsements came from the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a labor union whose 1.3 million members hold about
6.5 million Tenet shares in pension trusts, and The Proxy Monitor, a widely
respected independent proxy research, voting and auditing advisor whose clients
include more than 150 institutional investors, according to its web site.
AFSCME said it has mailed a letter to Tenet shareholders urging them to
support management's nominees and describing a "troubling pattern" of conflicts
that make a dissident slate of nominees headed by Dr. M. Lee Pearce of Miami
Beach, Fla., "particularly unqualified to serve" on Tenet's board.
"We do not believe that the Pearce Group will be an effective voice for
shareholders on the Board of Directors or an advocate for reform in our
Company," the AFSCME letter stated.
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In a report to its clients, The Proxy Monitor praised Tenet for
outperforming its selected peer group for the year-to-date and performing
"significantly better than the S&P Healthcare Index" during the same period.
"We believe shareholders' interests would be best served by allowing
management to continue implementation of its turnaround program," The Proxy
Monitor report said.
"We are gratified by the support of these important organizations that have
done such thorough research on the issues," said Tenet Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer Jeffrey C. Barbakow. "We believe this represents a solid
endorsement of Tenet's strategy for success in this complex industry."
The company also said it is aware that two other organizations, the
California Public Employees' Retirement System and Institutional Shareholder
Services, have announced support for the dissident slate.
"We recognize the historic position of CalPERS and ISS on corporate
governance issues," Barbakow said. "We have already addressed some of their
concerns this year by redeeming the `poison pill' stockholder rights plan and
removing the management director from the board's nominating committee. We will
continue this dialogue with our shareholders about governance concerns. But we
urge these groups to focus on what we believe are the true issues in this
election - Tenet's improved financial performance and enhanced shareholder
value, and the personal agenda of M. Lee Pearce."
CalPERS represents less than one percent of Tenet's 315.7 million shares
outstanding. ISS's opinion is advisory and does not necessarily reflect how the
institutional investors who subscribe to its service will vote at the annual
meeting.
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The company's annual meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. PDT on Wednesday
Oct. 11 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Tenet Healthcare, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 110 acute
care hospitals with 26,939 beds and numerous related health care services. The
company employs approximately 106,000 people serving communities in 17 states
and services its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center. Tenet's name
reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values among
partners - including employees, physicians, insurers and communities - in
providing a full spectrum of health care. Tenet can be found on the World Wide
Web at www.tenethealth.com.
# # #
Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking
statements. They are based on management's current expectations and could
be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and
uncertainties. Certain of those risks and uncertainties are discussed in
the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as we cannot
predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect our
ability to achieve the results estimated. We make no promise to update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying
factors, new information, future events or otherwise.
