<p><strong>Issaquah, WA-</strong><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Costco Wholesale Corporation has reported its net sales of $8.15 billion for the month of November, the four weeks ended November 25, 2012, an increase of nine percent from $7.51 billion during the similar four-week period last year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">For the first fiscal quarter (12 weeks) of its 2013 fiscal year (from September 3 through November 25, 2012), the Costco reported net sales of $23.21 billion, an increase of ten percent from $21.18 billion in the first fiscal quarter of 2012.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Comparable sales for the four-week and twelve-week periods ended November 25, 2012, were as follows:<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/Picture 1.png" alt="11/29/12 images" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Richard Galanti, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, "Our strong balance sheet and favorable access to the credit markets allow us to provide shareholders with this dividend, while also preserving financial and operational flexibility to grow our business globally; allowing for ongoing dividend and share repurchase activities; and enhancing the value of the Costco membership to the more than 67 million Costco cardholders throughout the world."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Costco also recently announced its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend on Costco common stock of $7.00 per share, payable December 18, 2012, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 10, 2012. The aggregate amount of payment to be made in connection with this special dividend will be approximately $3.0 billion. The special dividend is in addition to the Company's regular quarterly cash dividend of $.275 per share that was declared on October 30, 2012. The regular quarterly dividend will be paid November 30, 2012, to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 16, 2012.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.costco.com" target="_new"> Costco </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
