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EXHIBIT 99.1


                        [AMERICAN VANTAGE COMPANY LOGO]




CONTACT AT THE COMPANY:
Audrey Tassinari, Executive Vice President or
Roy Keefer, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
702/227-9800

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 7, 1999


AMERICAN VANTAGE COMPANIES ACQUIRES INTERNET COMPANY

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA --- American Vantage Companies (NASDAQ: AVCSD) announced today
that it has completed the acquisition of an 80% interest in Placement 2000.Com,
Inc. (Placement 2000) for $1 million in cash and up to an additional $2 million
in cash, based on future earnings, to be used for Placement 2000's general
corporate purposes. Placement 2000 is a privately held Internet concern
specializing in online services for information technology (IT) professionals,
companies, and recruiters. AVCS granted options to Placement 2000's former
principal, who is remaining with the company, to purchase up to 333,334 shares
of AVCS common stock.

Placement 2000 intends to compete in the lucrative recruitment field with
E-Cruiter.Com (NASDAQ: ECRU), Webhire.Com (NASDAQ: HIRE), Monster.Com (NASDAQ:
TMPW), a unit of TMP Worldwide, Inc., HotJobs.Com (NASDAQ: HOTJ) and Dice.Com
(NASDAQ: EWBX), purchased by EarthWeb, Inc. Based in New York, Placement 2000
maintains three distinct web-based properties that offer fully integrated online
recruiting solutions for information technology candidates, corporate hiring
managers, and third party recruiters. The flagship site is intended to be a
resume and job-posting database with advanced search capabilities containing
many value-added features which Placement 2000 believes are not already present
in any of the existing career sites on the Internet today. The site also is
intended to provide dynamic content, helpful links to other prominent career
web-based resources, and strategic distribution partnerships with several other
well-known job sites. The two other sites are a resume forwarding service and a
site for facilitating relationships and sharing of positions and candidates in
the third party recruiting "split" market. Placement 2000's three web-properties
additionally intend to generate a significant value stream for its traditional
recruiting operations. The resume and job-posting database site and the "split"
market site are intended to be fully operational within 90 days.
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The purchase of Placement 2000 is a major step for American Vantage Companies,
as part of its diversification strategy, to acquire and develop companies which
can become market leaders on the Internet and can benefit from American Vantage
Companies' business development and management support, financing and marketing
knowledge. American Vantage Companies generally will invest in companies in
which it can purchase a large enough ownership interest to enable it to have
significant influence over the management and policies of the company and to
realize a significant return to compensate for its investment of management time
and effort, as well as capital. The Company intends to allocate additional
capital to the further acquisition of Internet companies that meet its
investment criteria.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to
risks and uncertainties, including the lack of the Company's experience in
managing Internet businesses, the uncertain acceptance of the Internet, as well
as the existing and potential competitors in the Internet business. The
Company's actual results may differ materially from those described in any
forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning potential risk
factors that could affect the Company's business and financial results are
included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
They can also be found on the Company's website at www.americanvantage.com and
on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov.