Dividend Declaration

    Sara Lee Corporation

  Sara Lee Corporation Declares 233rd Consecutive Quarterly Dividend

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 July 1,
2004. The dividend is payable to stockholders of record at the close of business
on June 1, 2004. Sara Lee Corporation has paid quarterly dividends to its
shareholders for nearly 60 years and today's announcement represents the 233rd
consecutive quarterly dividend declared by the corporation.

Based on yesterday's closing price of $23.14 per share of Sara Lee common stock,
the dividend announced today provides an annualized yield of 3.2% to the
company's shareholders.

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, Branded Apparel 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.

    CONTACT: Sara Lee Corporation
             Media:
             Julie Ketay, 312-558-8727
             Analysts:
             Aaron Hoffman, 312-558-8739