Sara Lee Corporation

  Sara Lee Corporation Declares 231st Consecutive Quarterly Dividend;
     Sara Lee Stock Provides Annualized Yield of Approximately 4%

Sara Lee Corporation's Board of Directors today declared a regular quarterly
dividend of $.1875 per share on the company's common stock, payable on Jan. 2,
2004. The dividend is payable to stockholders of record at the close of business
on Dec. 1, 2003. Sara Lee Corporation has paid quarterly dividends to its
shareholders for nearly 60 years and today's announcement represents the 231st
consecutive quarterly dividend declared by the corporation.

Based on yesterday's closing price of $19.55 per share of Sara Lee common stock,
the dividend announced today provides an annualized yield of approximately 4% to
the company's shareholders.

On Aug. 28, 2003, Sara Lee Corporation's board of directors significantly
increased the company's common dividend, raising the annualized dividend 21%,
from $.62 per share to $.75 per share.

Sara Lee Corporation (www.saralee.com) is one of the world's leading branded
consumer packaged goods companies, selling its products in nearly 200 countries.
The company has three global businesses - Food and Beverage, Intimates and
Underwear, and Household Products - through which it manufactures and markets
products of exceptional quality and value under leading, well-known brand names
such as Sara Lee, Earth Grains, Jimmy Dean, Douwe Egberts, Chock full o'Nuts,
Hanes, Playtex, Bali, Dim, Kiwi, Ambi Pur and Sanex.