Adatom.com Signs Agreement With Premier Chinese Agricultural Center; Exclusive Agreement To Develop An Agricultural Electronic Marketplace.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000

Adatom.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADTM) today announced the Company has signed a cooperative agreement with Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Industrial Demonstration Zone (YAHIDZ) to develop and implement a "hi-tech agricultural electronic marketplace." This is Adatom's second major joint venture agreement with a national organization in China. In March 2000, Adatom signed an exclusive agreement with the China Product Trade Net Center to establish an electronic marketplace for the sale of consumer goods between China and the United States.

YAHIDZ is a Chinese agricultural organization established in 1997 by the China National State Council, the highest level of Chinese government, and 14 Chinese ministries, commissions and provincial governments with an initial $130 million investment. YAHIDZ's management group consists of high-ranking officials from each ministry and council and is one of only two national level industrial centers in China. The other is the Electronics Center called Chinese Silicon Valley. YAHIDZ has been given by the Chinese government the responsibility to modernize China's agriculture industry. To date, YAHIDZ's accumulated economic benefits of industrial transformation and achievement have exceeded a value of $200 billion RMB(Chinese currency), approximately $25 billion U.S.

Adatom as the exclusive international partner in this effort with YAHIDZ will source, provide, market and sell industrial and consumer products, including farm machinery and equipment, seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and crops. Information and consulting services will also be provided electronically for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets between the United States and China.

      In addition, the agreement includes two future developments:
--  To set up a Sino-American joint Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech
    Venture Capital Fund focused on funding ventures in seed
    development, water-saving engines, agricultural biochemistry
    engineering, botany engineering and environmental protection.
--  To establish a Sino-American agricultural hi-tech innovation
    center, which will be the initiation project of the venture
    capital fund.

Jun Chen, Vice Director General of Yangling, stated, "We are excited about the opportunity to work with Adatom.com and the United States. Our joint venture will provide a new channel linking the two largest agricultural countries in the world. Adatom has successful experience in both Business to Business and Business to Consumer market and an established relationship with China, the largest importer of US agricultural products. This new e-commerce joint venture will certainly facilitate the upcoming explosive online agricultural market for clients in both countries."

Rich Barton, Adatom's President and CEO, stated, "This agreement continues to demonstrate Adatom's ability to deliver the present and future value of its business model, processes and technology infrastructure for e-tailing, e-commerce enablement and electronic marketplace solutions. In this case we have begun the electronic integration of the world's largest agricultural marketplace with the world's fastest growing agricultural country. This is after having recently signed an exclusive agreement to electronically integrate the flow of consumer goods between China and the United States with the China Product Trade Net Center in China."

Adatom and Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Industrial Demonstration Zone are presently processing Chinese government requirements and plan to sign a final agreement in the summer of 2000.

About Adatom.com, Inc.

Adatom.com, Inc. is a fast growing, e-commerce company, which offers over three million items for the home, individual and office through its www.adatom.com website, provides e-tailing solutions for other businesses and develops and implements electronic marketplaces. By leveraging its proprietary e-commerce infrastructure and efficient distribution system, the Company reaches both the business-to-business market with its E-Commerce Solution Program (AESP) and its Global Electronic Marketmaker Solution capabilities (GEMS), and the business-to-consumer market with its www.adatom.com Web site which seeks to reduce operating costs and provide price savings and increased customer service for consumers while providing a comprehensive product mix of name brand products in 29 product categories.

Statements in this news release that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Words such as "expect," "intends," "believes," "plans," "anticipates" and "likely" also identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on current facts and analyses. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors including, but not limited to history of operating losses, anticipated future losses, competition, future capital needs, the need for market acceptance, dependence upon third parties, disruption of vital infrastructure and intellectual property rights. All forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Additional information on factors that may affect the business and financial results of the Company can be found in filings of the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.