PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release - 11/15/2000

Grant Thornton LLP And AXA Financial, Inc. Announce Joint Venture To Provide Financial Services To Business Owners, Senior Management

New Entity Named Grant Thornton Advisors

NEW YORK, N.Y., NOV. 15, 2000 - Grant Thornton LLP, a major accounting, tax and management consulting firm, and AXA Financial, Inc., one of the world's premier financial services organizations, have announced a joint venture to provide personal financial planning and financial services to the owners and senior management of middle-market, entrepreneurial companies.

Grant Thornton and AXA Financial, Inc. - through its wholly-owned subsidiary, AXA Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of financial services for consumers and businesses - each owns 50 percent of the new entity, which has been named Grant Thornton Advisors.

"We are honored to be associated with an organization with the stature of AXA Financial. Its people, expertise, technology, training and service are world-class and will be extraordinarily beneficial to our clients," said Dom Esposito, chief executive officer of Grant Thornton.

"Many of our clients have asked us to help them enhance and preserve the wealth they have created through their businesses. Through Grant Thornton Advisors, clients will have access to personal financial planning as well as estate and retirement planning services, along with a broad range of brand-name insurance and investment products, including insurance products offered by Equitable Life and investment products offered by AXA Advisors."

"Grant Thornton has one of the strongest professional services brand names and reputations among middle-market, entrepreneurial companies," said Michael Hegarty, senior vice chairman and chief operating officer of AXA Financial, Inc. "These financial planning services and products are natural extensions of the business relationships that Grant Thornton has with the owners and senior management of entrepreneurial companies and we look forward to having Grant Thornton Advisors emerge as one of our company's strong brand names."

About Grant Thornton Advisors

Grant Thornton Advisors' headquarters will be in the AXA Financial Center at 1290 Avenue of the Americas in New York City.

David H. Abramson, a Grant Thornton partner who has held national senior positions for more than half of his 33-year career with the firm, will serve as chief executive officer and chairman of Grant Thornton Advisors. Geoffrey H. Radbill, senior vice president with AXA Client Solutions, will serve as chief operating officer of Grant Thornton Advisors. He has a strong and diverse background in the financial services industry and has held a variety of management positions at the company's headquarters and field locations.

Grant Thornton Advisors will have a four-member board of directors: Abramson; Kevin R. Byrne, senior vice president and treasurer, AXA Financial, Inc.; Esposito; and Michael S. Martin, chief executive officer, AXA Advisors. Grant Thornton Advisors will recruit highly experienced financial and estate planners, who will have offices in Grant Thornton's 46 U.S. locations.

Grant Thornton Advisors will have access to a wide range of brand-name products and services, including those offered through AXA Advisors and AXA Network, LLC, an insurance brokerage affiliate, including financial planning; retirement and estate planning; business succession planning; mutual funds; annuities; and life insurance.

About Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton, with executive offices in New York, has $326 million in revenues and is the U.S. member of $1.6-billion Grant Thornton International.

The firm has four principal lines of business: Professional services for middle-market, entrepreneurial companies, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies; tax consulting; corporate finance and risk management; and financial advisory services for the owners and senior management of middle-market, entrepreneurial companies.

On Oct. 31, 2000, Grant Thornton sold its $90-million e-Business Consulting Group, which provides end-to-end technology solutions to major global corporations, to Hitachi, Ltd. The sale of this business unit, now called Experio Solutions Corporation, strengthens Grant Thornton's focus on middle-market, entrepreneurial companies and provides the firm with additional capital for acquisitions and other strategic investments, including the formation of Grant Thornton Advisors.

Grant Thornton's address on the world wide web is www.grantthornton.com.

About AXA Financial and AXA Group

AXA Financial, Inc., with approximately $400 billion in assets under management as of November 2000, is one of the world's premier financial service organizations through its strong family of brands and affiliations: The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S, AXA Advisors, LLC, Equitable Distributors, Inc., Alliance Capital Management, LP, and Sanford C. Bernstein. For more information visit www.axa-financial.com.

AXA Financial is a subsidiary of the global AXA Group. AXA Group has approximately $900 billion in assets under management as of November 2000 and is one of the world's largest international insurance and related financial services companies. AXA Group's operations are diverse geographically, with activities in approximately 60 countries, principally Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. In the United States, AXA Group is represented through its holdings in AXA Financial, Inc. and its subsidiaries.