Andersen Consulting to Give Employees $200 Million Stake in eCommerce Companies and Expand its Partnership Ranks; Partnership Will Double in Most Parts of the World This Year.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20, 2000

Andersen Consulting announced today a major new initiative to attract and reward high-performing employees. Among other actions, Andersen Consulting will invest $200 million in eCommerce-related companies on behalf of the employees and intends to subsequently continue to invest another $100 million each year. The wealth created by these investments will be distributed to employees as "eUnits" -- a unique and proprietary form of compensation that harnesses the value of the electronic economy.

Joe Forehand, Andersen Consulting's managing partner and Chief Executive Officer, also outlined other new opportunities for employees, including extended access to the firm's partnership ranks. The result will be a doubling of the partnership (more than 1,000 new partners) in most parts of the world this year.

"This is an exciting new demonstration that Andersen Consulting is the best place to work today for high-performing people who seek to shape the new economy and share in its rewards," said Forehand.

Effective immediately, AC Ventures, the firm's venture capital unit, will allocate $100 million of its existing investment portfolio to benefit Andersen Consulting's top-performing and long-term employees, and on September 1, 2000, Andersen Consulting will commit an additional $100 million that will be invested through AC Ventures to generate potentially substantial returns for employees.

"We are doing this so that those who build their careers with Andersen Consulting will be able to share in the wealth created by the firm," said Vernon Ellis, the firm's International Chairman. "This is a really exciting concept," he added, "we are blazing a trail that our competition will envy."

Explaining the firm's intention to make the partnership more accessible to top-performers earlier in their careers, Forehand said, "We will make our partnership closer to our people, include more eEntrepreneurs in our partnership to ensure our continued market success, enhance the role and standing of our associate partner group, and build a broader base of ownership of one of the world's most successful businesses in the eEconomy," Forehand told employees. "That's what we heard you ask us to do, and we have listened to you."

Today's announcements deliver on Forehand's declaration of a firm-wide "War for Talent" at the firm's global partners meeting in November of last year. Since then, Andersen Consulting employees have had broad new opportunities to participate directly in the dot-com revolution by working as employees of one of Andersen Consulting's Dot-Com Launch Centres, as team members of one of the firm's recently announced joint ventures such as Avanade, or directly with one of the many Andersen Consulting clients who are operating on the front lines of the electronic economy.

In the past three months, Forehand and Andersen Consulting's new leadership team have unveiled a series of strategic initiatives to expand employee opportunities and position the firm at the center of the electronic economy:

-- In December, Andersen Consulting leapt to the forefront of the

venture capital industry with the formation of AC Ventures.

Today's announcement means employees will be able to share in

the wealth created by AC Ventures.

-- In February, Andersen Consulting created the post-incubation,

pre-IPO internet start-up market by opening 17 Dot-Com Launch

Centres in major cities around the globe and giving employees

opportunities to participate actively in helping internet

leaders create their futures.

-- This month, Andersen Consulting announced bold new joint

ventures with Microsoft and Telewest that will link the firm

with other powerful technology players that offer exciting new

career opportunities.

"The combination of extending the partnership and our eUnits programme gives all our best people a share now in the wealth we are creating from the eEconomy, and it brings long term wealth creation to the people who create long-term careers with Andersen Consulting," said Ellis. "We want to continue to make Andersen Consulting the most exciting, innovative and rewarding place to work in the eEconomy.

About Andersen Consulting:

AC Ventures, the venture capital unit of Andersen Consulting, works with entrepreneurs to build companies that transform industries and generate superior economic returns. The unit provides a unique venture capital option that can help start-ups accelerate growth and market penetration. Based in Palo Alto, California, AC Ventures expects to invest up to $1 billion globally over the next five years. Its home page address is http://www.ac-ventures.com.

Andersen Consulting is a $8.9 billion global management and technology consulting organization whose mission is to help its clients create their future. The firm works with clients from a wide range of industries to bring about far-reaching change by aligning their people, processes and technology with their strategy. Andersen Consulting has more than 65,000 people in 48 countries. Its home page address is http://www.ac.com.