IBM, PriceWaterhouseCoopers Complete Sale of PWC C

IBM, PriceWaterhouseCoopers Complete Sale of PWC Consulting
 New Group, IBM Business Consulting Services, to Help Clients Drive Greater Business Return 

    ARMONK, N.Y. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2002--IBM and
PricewaterhouseCoopers today announced IBM's acquisition of PwC
Consulting, the global management consulting and technology services
unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The deal was overwhelmingly approved
by PricewaterhouseCoopers member firms and partners globally, and has
received all regulatory clearances, including in the United States and
the European Union. Under terms of the transaction, IBM has paid
PricewaterhouseCoopers approximately $3.5 billion in cash and stock.

The combination creates a new global business unit, IBM Business
Consulting Services, comprising more than 30,000 IBM and 30,000
transferring PwC Consulting professionals. As a result, IBM Business
Consulting Services becomes the world's largest consulting services
organization, with operations in more than 160 countries. IBM Business
Consulting Services will be part of IBM Global Services.

'This union creates a new category in the consulting field. We've
combined two organizations with complementary skills and cultures, and
which share a vision of fusing business insight and technology in a
way that can significantly benefit a client's bottom line,' said Ginni
Rometty, general manager, IBM Business Consulting Services. 'Together,
we can offer the world's most complete range of consulting services.
Combine that with the full range of IBM services, infrastructure,
technology and financing resources, and you have the integrated
business technology solutions that many of our clients are now
demanding.'

Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr., chief executive officer of
PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, 'With the closing of this sale,
PricewaterhouseCoopers effectively completes the reorganization we
began more than two years ago, and fulfills our commitment to unleash
the consulting unit from the regulatory restraints of our industry.
Combining PwC Consulting with IBM fully achieves the goals we set for
the separation and it provides clients and our professionals with
greater opportunities and access to innovative solutions. We wish our
former colleagues all the best.'

Following the July 30 definitive agreement, IBM and PwC Consulting
assembled a transition team of more than 600 professionals to plan for
and manage all aspects of the expected integration of more than 60,000
client service professionals and staff. As part of this process,
Business Consulting Services has determined that it will adopt IBM's
sector and industry segmentation, and PwC Consulting's key solution
areas, facilitating rapid and seamless integration.

Concurrently, IBM has named three geographic leaders for the new
Business Consulting Services organization: Mike Collins, general
manager, Business Consulting Services-Americas; David Dockray, general
manager, Business Consulting Services-Europe, Middle-East and Africa;
and Hideki Kurashige, general manager, Business Consulting
Services-Asia Pacific. Messrs. Collins and Dockray were previously
theatre-managing partners of PwC Consulting. Kurashige-san was
previously CEO of PwC Consulting in Japan. All three leaders will
report directly to Ms. Rometty.

Increasingly, companies are considering new ways of running their
businesses such as business transformation outsourcing, and
utility-based computing. These new business models require strategic
business consulting skills, expertise in specific industry issues, an
understanding of key solution areas such as customer relationship
management, supply chain and financial transaction management -- all
areas in which PwC Consulting has been a recognized leader. These
skills need to be combined with large- scale implementation
capabilities, such as outsourcing, IT infrastructure skills, key
technologies, and financing, where IBM is the market leader. IBM
Business Consulting Services is now uniquely positioned to advise and
enable clients to fully leverage these new models of business
computing, driving greater return on IT investments.

IBM plans to use Ernst & Young to audit its Business Consulting
Services unit.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with more
than 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM Global
Services is the industry's largest business and information technology
services provider, with approximately 180,000 professionals serving
customers in 160 countries and annual revenue of $35 billion (2001).
IBM Global Services integrates a broad range of capabilities --
services, consulting, hardware, software and research -- to help
companies of all sizes realize the full value of information
technology.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained
herein, statements contained in this release may constitute 'forward-
looking statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of
risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results
to differ materially, as discussed in the company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.

   Short Name: Intnl Bus. Mach
   Category Code: MSC
   Sequence Number: 00000884
   Time of Receipt (offset from UTC): 20021002T110452+0100