CKE Restaurants, Inc. ( owner, operator and franchisor of the Carl’s Jr. ®, Hardee’s® and La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill® restaurant brands, announced today that it has repurchased two million shares of its common stock from its largest shareholder, Pirate Capital, LLC. The purchase price of $18.53 per share reflects the closing price of the company’s common stock on Dec. 28, 2006. The company used its revolving credit facility to fund the approximately $37.1 million total purchase price. The purchase was completed through a privately negotiated transaction under the Ccompany’s previously announced stock repurchase program. Following the transaction, and based on Pirate Capital’s most recent filing on Schedule 13D, Pirate Capital’s ownership stake in the Company is approximately 5,048,000 shares, or about 7.2% of the total shares outstanding as of Dec. 29, 2006.

Andrew F. Puzder, president and chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, Inc., said, “We are very pleased to be able to execute this transaction, which represents nearly three percent of our outstanding common shares. Our improved operating results and reduced debt balance have given us the financial flexibility to execute such a transaction. As was the case with the recent conversions of over 85% of our convertible notes into equity, we remain poised to take advantage of opportunities to increase shareholder value.”

During fiscal 2007, CKE has repurchased over 4.5 million shares under its stock repurchase program at a cost of approximately $79.3 million or approximately $17.56 per share.

As of the third fiscal quarter ended Nov. 6, 2006, CKE Restaurants, Inc., through its subsidiaries, had a total of 3,113 franchised, licensed or company-operated restaurants in 43 states and in 14 countries, including 1,079 Carl’s Jr. restaurants, 1,923 Hardee’s restaurants and 95 La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill restaurants.