USA: Leading Consumer Products Companies Unite to Launch Transora.com, Global Business-To-Business e-Marketplace

In an historic move, 49 of the world's leading food, beverage, and consumer products companies have joined forces to announce the formation of the largest business-to-business (B2B) e-Marketplace for their industry - Transora.com.The new company will be the first of its kind owned by the consumer products industry - its new investors are some of the world's best-known companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, Diageo PLC, The Earthgrains Company, Kraft Foods, Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, Sara Lee Corporation, and Unilever, NV. In total, 49 food, beverage, and consumer products companies, representing more than $500 billion in annual sales, committed nearly $250 million to fund Transora.Transora will enable consumer products companies across the world to streamline business transactions with their suppliers, buyers and distributors via the Internet. Investor companies account for approximately $350 billion of the $900 billion annually spent by the industry on goods and services to operate their businesses."The sheer number of companies coming together is unmatched in the B2B marketplace arena," said Judy Sprieser, Executive Vice President, Sara Lee Corporation and Chairwoman of the steering committee that led the exploratory phase of the Transora initiative. "It has been truly remarkable to witness an industry come together so rapidly to create a vision for transforming our current business practices. We are well-financed and strategically positioned to shape our own destiny in a way other B2B exchanges cannot. With this venture, old economy companies are becoming new economy leaders."