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MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2000--Millenios, General Mills' "Once-in-a- Lifetime" cereal, helped raise nearly $40,000 for local chapters of Big Brothers Big Sisters with its star-studded, "Once-in-a-Lifetime" eBay auction.

The online event, which ran from September through December 1999, auctioned nearly 200 limited-edition boxes of Millenios. The boxes were signed by some of today's hottest celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Janet Jackson, Kevin Spacey and David Duchovny. The boxes were sold to the highest bidder on the auction web site, eBay. The auction posted twenty different boxes every ten days, raising nearly $15,000.

All of the proceeds for this special auction, including an initial $25,000 donation from General Mills and the General Mills Foundation, were distributed to five chapters of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS). The chapters benefiting from the donation include New York City, Orange County of California, Northwestern Ohio in Toledo, DuPage County Illinois and Greater Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"General Mills chose Big Brothers Big Sisters to receive this gift because we admire their commitment to making a difference, one child at a time," said Mark Addicks, vice president, Cheerios Cereal Division of General Mills. "We hand picked chapters in communities where General Mills has a strong presence. The Millenios autograph auction was a great opportunity for us to give back to the communities that have done so much for General Mills and its employees."

General Mills created Millenios, a limited-edition cereal, to celebrate the new millennium. Mr. New Year himself, Dick Clark, officially introduced Millenios and the eBay celebrity auction at a gala event in Times Square on September 8, 1999. In addition, Mr. Clark's autographed box of Millenios was the first auctioned on the site. Along with its high profile on eBay's home page, the popular Millenios eBay auction was featured on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and "Donny & Marie," helping boost auction sales.

General Mills ranks among the largest consumer foods companies in the United States, with such category leaders as Big G(R) Cereals; Betty Crocker(R) Dinners, Desserts and Side Dish products; Yoplait(R) Yogurts and Chex(R) Snack Mix. General Mills worldwide revenues, including share of sales from international joint ventures, total $6.8 billion, with employees in plants and offices throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe and Asia. For more information about General Mills, check out the General Mills Web site at www.generalmills.com.