FreeMarkets Announces New Agreement With Eaton; Two-Year Deal Extends Relationship With Global Manufacturer Through 2003

    PITTSBURGH--April 9, 2001--FreeMarkets, Inc. , the leading B2B Global Marketplace and eSourcing solutions provider, today announced that it has signed a new, two-year agreement with Eaton Corporation , a global manufacturer of highly-engineered products that serves industrial, vehicle, construction, commercial, and aerospace markets. Under the terms of the agreement, Eaton will continue to use the FreeMarkets(R) B2B Global Marketplace as a platform for sourcing a variety of goods and services for its operations worldwide.
    The new agreement extends the relationship that FreeMarkets and Eaton began in 1998 through 2003.
    "We are very pleased to be extending our relationship with FreeMarkets," said Stan Mickens, Vice President, Supplier Resource Management, of Eaton. "FreeMarkets has consistently delivered measurable results to our organization, and we look forward to continuing to leverage the company's technology, domain expertise and market making experience to source goods and services."
    Since 1998, FreeMarkets has helped Eaton source hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products across a wide range of supply categories, including: electrical cables and harnesses, metal castings, rubber compression moldings, plastic injection molding, paint and coatings, copper and brass alloys and more.
    "Eaton is clearly a leader in the adoption and implementation of eSourcing solutions, and we are very pleased that the company has chosen to continue to use FreeMarkets as its platform for both buying and selling goods and services," said Kent Parker, Vice President and General Manager of the Automotive Sector at FreeMarkets. "We look forward to leveraging our eSourcing solutions to create successful eMarkets that generate savings and efficiencies for Eaton operations around the world."

    About Eaton

    With 2000 sales of $8.3 billion, Eaton is a global diversified industrial manufacturer of highly engineered products that serve industrial, vehicle, construction, commercial and aerospace markets. Principal products include hydraulic products and fluid connectors, electrical power distribution and control equipment, truck drivetrain systems, engine components and a wide variety of controls. The company has 59,000 employees and 195 manufacturing sites in 24 countries.

    About FreeMarkets

    FreeMarkets is the leading B2B Global Marketplace and eSourcing solutions provider. FreeMarkets combines its industry-leading technology platform with unparalleled sourcing information, commodity-specific domain knowledge, world-class services and purchasing scale to deliver fast, measurable savings to customers. FreeMarkets has created over 9,200 online markets for more than $14 billion worth of goods and services and created estimated savings of over $2.7 billion for its customers. The FreeMarkets B2B Global Marketplace enables buying organizations to source products from more than 165 supply verticals. More than 9,300 suppliers from over 55 countries have participated in the FreeMarkets B2B Global Marketplace. The Company also operates FreeMarkets Asset Exchange, the leading B2B Global Marketplace for surplus assets and inventory. FreeMarkets can be found on the Web at www.freemarkets.com. FreeMarkets(R) and BidWare(R) are registered trademarks of FreeMarkets, Inc., and FullSource(TM) and QuickSource(TM) are pending trademarks of FreeMarkets, Inc.

    Forward-looking statements

    Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including those statements that refer to FreeMarkets' plans, prospects, expectations, strategies, intentions, and beliefs, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to FreeMarkets today, and FreeMarkets assumes no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, market acceptance of FreeMarkets' B2B Global Marketplace and new products and services that FreeMarkets introduces, the competitive nature of the market for business-to-business online auction and e-commerce services, FreeMarkets' ability to attract new customers, through its own efforts and through partnerships and alliances, to retain and increase revenue from existing customers and to attract new customers, FreeMarkets' ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, the size of the market for used equipment and surplus inventory, the demand for online auction and other asset recovery services by buyers and suppliers, and FreeMarkets' ability to integrate acquisitions and manage growth. You should carefully review these and other risk factors that are described in more detail in FreeMarkets' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.