The Home Depot Names President for China Retail Operations

The Home Depot Names President for China Retail Operations

February 13, 2007

    ATLANTA and SHANGHAI, China, Feb. 13
/Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Home Depot(R), the world's
largest home improvement retailer, today announced the
appointment of Yves Chen as president of The Home Depot's
retail operations in China.  He  will report directly to
Annette Verschuren, president, The Home Depot Asia and
Canada. 

    (Logo: 
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030502/HOMEDEPOTLOGO
)
    (Logo: 
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061213/NYW052LOGO )

    Yves Chen brings 19 years of global retail and
management experience to his new role. Most recently, he
served as the executive president of the Beijing Hualian
Group, a leading Chinese retailer. Prior to that, he held a
variety of executive positions in China and France with
Carrefour(R) and Promodes(R), two leading French retailers.
Yves holds a bachelor's degree from the Beijing Chemical
Engineering Institute, as well as a master's degree from
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Industries Chimiques and a
Ph.D. from Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine,
both universities in Nancy, France. 

    "We are excited about the expertise that Yves Chen
will bring to our retail operation," said Verschuren. 
"As a local Chinese business leader, Yves will bring
invaluable insight to our operations and growth strategy.
The combination of Yves and the current Home Way(R)
leadership is a powerful team dedicated to serving the
unique needs of Chinese consumers."

    In his new position, Yves will have full responsibility
for the operating and financial performance of The Home
Depot's retail operations in China. He will be responsible
for integrating the newly acquired Home Way stores into The
Home Depot and leading the continued growth of the Company's
retail business in China.
 
    The Home Depot announced its acquisition of Home Way on
December 13, 2006. The transaction received the necessary
Chinese government regulatory approvals and closed on
December 15. As a result of the acquisition, the Company
now employs approximately 3,000 associates across 12 stores
in six cities in China, including Tianjin, Beijing, Xi'an,
Qingdao, Shenyang and Zhengzhou. 

    The Home Depot(R) is the world's largest home
improvement specialty retailer, with 2,159 retail stores in
all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Virgin Islands, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China.
Through its HD Supply(SM) businesses, The Home Depot is
also one of the largest diversified wholesale distributors
in the United States, with nearly 1,000 locations in the
United States and Canada offering products and services for
building, improving and maintaining homes, businesses and
municipal infrastructures. In fiscal 2005, The Home Depot
had sales of $81.5 billion and earnings of $5.8 billion.
The Company employs approximately 355,000 associates and
has been recognized by FORTUNE(R) magazine as the No. 1
Most Admired Specialty Retailer and the No. 13 Most Admired
Corporation in America for 2006. The Home Depot's stock is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange(R) (NYSE: HD) and is
included in the Dow Jones(R) industrial average and
Standard & Poor's(R) 500 index. HDG    


    For more information, please contact:

     Financial Community
     Diane Dayhoff
     Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
     The Home Depot
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Paula Drake, PR Manager
     The Home Depot
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Chinese Media
     Linda Li of Manning Selvage & Lee
     Tel:   [phone], ext. 621
     Email: [e-mail] 


SOURCE  The Home Depot