DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- China Direct, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDS) (the 'Company'), a U.S. company that owns controlling stakes in a diversified portfolio of Chinese entities and assists Chinese businesses in accessing the U.S. capital markets, announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the Company to amend its Articles of Incorporation to effect a 1-for-100 reverse split of its common stock, par value $.0001 per share followed by a 100-for-1 forward split of its common stock.

On September 10, 2008, the Board of Directors of the Company approved an amendment to its Articles of Incorporation to effect a 1-for-100 reverse split of its common stock (the 'Reverse Split'), followed by a 100-for-1 forward split of its common stock (the 'Forward Split'). The transaction will be carried out on a per shareholder basis. Following the transaction, shareholders holding at least 100 shares of the Company's common stock will not be impacted. The Reverse Split will be followed immediately by the Forward Split and the total number of shares held by the holder of 100 or more shares will not change as a result of the Reverse/Forward Split. Following the transaction, there will be no change in the Company's authorized common stock or the par value of its common stock.

On September 19, 2008, the Company was notified by Nasdaq that its common stock will be temporarily assigned a symbol (Nasdaq: CDSDD) for 20 trading days after the transaction as a means to notify member broker dealers of the transaction. China Direct remains listed on the Nasdaq Global Market. The 'DD' at the end of the Company's symbol will simply denote the recent stock splits. On Monday, October 20, 2008 trading will resume under the Company's current symbol CDS.

The Reverse Split is comprised of 1 share of common stock for every 100 shares of common stock and will be followed immediately by the Forward Split. The total number of shares held by the holder of 100 or more shares will not change as a result of the Reverse/Forward Split and any fractional share held by such holder resulting from the Reverse Split will not receive cash for the fractional shares they own. Shareholders who hold less than 1 share of the Company's common stock in the aggregate (less than 1 whole share) following the Reverse Split will not be included in the Forward Split. Rather, such fractional shares will receive a cash payment at a price equal to the closing price of the Company's common stock of $5.07 as of September 19, 2008.