Abbott Laboratories Declares 340th Consecutive Quarterly Dividend

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The board of directors of Abbott today declared a quarterly common dividend of 36 cents per share.

This marks the 340th consecutive quarterly dividend to be paid by Abbott since 1924. The cash dividend is payable Feb. 15, 2009, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 15, 2009.

Abbott has increased its dividend payout for 36 consecutive years -- including a 10.8 percent increase earlier this year -- and was named by a leading financial media outlet as one of its top five dividend stocks -- http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0802/gallery.dividend_stocks/3.html. Additionally, Abbott is a top performer of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index -- http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1106_dividend_aristocrats/2.htm, which tracks companies that have annually increased their dividend for 25 consecutive years.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 68,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott’s news releases and other information are available on the company’s Web site at http://www.abbott.com.

CONTACT: Media, Adelle Infante, +1-847-938-8745, or Financial, Larry
Peepo, +1-847-935-6722, both of Abbott

Web site: http://www.abbott.com/

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