Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WMI) Announces Preliminary Third Quarter 2008 Earnings Per Diluted Share Above Wall Street Expectations

Company Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Republic Services

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WMI) announced preliminary revenue and earnings per diluted share results for the third quarter of 2008. Waste Management expects to report revenues of $3.53 billion, a 3.6% increase compared with the third quarter of 2007. Reported earnings for the third quarter of 2008 are expected to be $0.62 per diluted share, and after adjusting for certain items noted below are expected to be between $0.62 and $0.63 per diluted share. The low end of the range, $0.62 per diluted share, exceeds the Wall Street consensus estimate of $0.60 per diluted share and is a 15% increase over the reported results for the third quarter of 2007 of $0.54 per diluted share, with no net change as a result of adjustments.

David P. Steiner, Waste Management’s CEO, stated, “Our preliminary third quarter 2008 revenue and earnings per diluted share results reflect the strength of our operations and our continued ability to meet or exceed our financial objectives. We certainly believe that our strong cash flow and our strong balance sheet provide certainty to investors in an uncertain time. In addition, our cash flow and cash receipts continue to be strong. We currently have over $500 million of available cash and liquid investments, all of which are invested in U.S. Government obligations.”

The Company also announced that it is withdrawing its proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Republic Services, Inc. for $37 per share. Steiner commented, “When we began this process, we said that we would be a disciplined buyer and that we would not risk our strong financial position to acquire Republic. Given the current state of the financial markets, we believe that it would not be prudent to continue to pursue the acquisition of Republic. Our focus will remain where it has always been—on providing strong and stable returns for our investors. Our third quarter results reflect that our actions over the past five years continue to pay off, and this progress will position us well to continue to perform even in an economic downturn.”

The Company noted the following items that impacted the preliminary results for the third quarter of 2008:

* An after-tax benefit of approximately $0.03 to $0.04 per diluted share primarily due to gains from the divestiture of operations.
* An after-tax reduction of approximately $0.03 per diluted share related to the cost of the labor disruption in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area including more than a $0.02 per diluted share charge related to that location’s bargaining unit agreeing to our proposal to withdraw the bargaining unit from the Teamsters’ under-funded Central States pension fund.

The Company noted the following items that impacted the results for the third quarter of 2007:

* A tax benefit of approximately $0.03 per diluted share primarily from adjustments required for the finalization of our 2006 tax returns.
* An after-tax decrease of approximately $0.03 per diluted share primarily related to the cost of the labor disruption in the Oakland, California area.

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The Company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.

For more information, visit http://www.wm.com