FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

READ-RITE ANNOUNCES CEO SUCCESSION; ALAN LOWE NAMED PRESIDENT AND CEO TO SUCCEED CYRIL YANSOUNI WHO WILL REMAIN AS CHAIRMAN

MILPITAS, CA - June 8, 2000 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT) today announced that its Board of Directors has named Alan Lowe, currently the company�s president and chief operating officer, to the post of president and chief executive officer, succeeding Cyril Yansouni who will continue as the company�s chairman of the Board.

In announcing this succession, the Board noted that during Mr. Yansouni�s nine-year tenure as Read-Rite�s chairman and chief executive officer, the company has grown from a small, venture capital funded company to become one of the world�s technology leaders in magnetic recording, and today is the only US-based independent supplier of magnetic recording heads for the computer storage industry.

This change in responsibilities will permit Mr. Yansouni, in his role as company chairman, to focus on the long-term strategic opportunities available to the company in the storage industry as well as other market opportunities where the company�s expertise and core competencies may be leveraged. �During the last few quarters, Read-Rite has made great strides in a number of key areas -- successfully restructuring its balance sheet through its recent exchange offer, completing its transition and its volume production ramp to GMR technology, reducing its cost structure, gaining significant market share, and cementing its position as a technology leader,� said Mr. Yansouni. �I believe that the company under Alan Lowe�s leadership, in conjunction with the strong and experienced management team we have in place, is now poised and well positioned to take advantage of the many opportunities in the marketplace. I am pleased to have the opportunity to continue participating and contributing in this new role.�

Alan Lowe joined Read-Rite in 1989 and held a variety of positions including vice president of sales, vice president of customer programs, and senior vice president of customer business units, before being named president and chief operating officer in April 1997. In February 2000, Lowe was elected to the company�s Board of Directors. �Alan has accomplished a great deal for Read-Rite over the past 11 years, and has demonstrated outstanding leadership ability and a high level of dedication in a number of important capacities,� said Yansouni. �During his three years as president and chief operating officer, the company has successfully executed a succession of technology transitions and emerged, in an extremely challenging disk drive environment, as a technology leader with a broadened customer and product base. The time has now come to give Alan complete authority to implement the company�s plans and programs and I am pleased to be announcing his promotion at this time.�

�I am delighted to be leading Read-Rite at this important juncture in its history,� said Lowe. �While I am pleased with the progress we�ve made in many areas, including technology leadership, manufacturing efficiencies and customer satisfaction, we still have work to do to realize our goal of returning to profitability. I look forward to the continued guidance and counsel from Cyril and the Board on realizing this goal and unlocking the company�s full potential for its shareholders and for our dedicated employees.�

In announcing this succession, Board member Michael Hackworth said �we are grateful to Cyril Yansouni for his contributions and stewardship of the company during these past nine years. We are particularly pleased by the strength of Read-Rite�s organization and look forward to the opportunity to work with Alan Lowe in his new role as Read-Rite�s chief executive officer.�

Read-Rite Corporation is one of the world�s leading independent manufacturers of magnetic recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and tape drives. The company is headquartered in Milpitas, California and has operations in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. The company�s home page on the world wide web can be reached at http://www.readrite.com.

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