Exhibit 99.1

McDONALD’S SECOND QUARTER EPS RISES 27% TO NEW RECORD;

MARGINS WIDEN ON STRONG COMPARABLE SALES WORLDWIDE

OAK BROOK, IL — McDonald’s Corporation today announced strong operating results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2004. The Company reported diluted earnings per share of $0.47, up 27% for the quarter and $0.87, up 32% for the six months driven by strong comparable sales across all business segments. The Company posted double-digit growth in Systemwide sales, revenues, operating income and earnings per share for both the quarter and six months, and reported the following highlights for the quarter:

President and Chief Executive Officer Charlie Bell said, “Our Plan to Win, with its focus on customers, continues to deliver results worldwide. This quarter’s performance reflects higher sales, more customer visits and enhanced profitability. We’re increasing McDonald’s relevance and keeping our brand in demand with faster service, better tasting and more contemporary food and beverage offerings, cleaner, more modern restaurants, attractive everyday value, and hip, fresh marketing.

“As encouraged as we are by current performance, we still have work to do. We will remain focused on operational excellence, leadership marketing, innovation and financial discipline. We’ll continue to share successful initiatives throughout the System such as our appealing Salads Plus menu, eye-catching restaurant reimaging concepts, and branded affordability programs.

“We’ll also continue to manage costs and effectively deploy our significant and growing cash flow. This year, we’ll invest

$1.5 billion to $1.6 billion in our business, reduce debt by $500 million to $700 million, and return more than $1 billion of cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchase.

“In the U.S., second quarter comparable sales performance remained strong. U.S. Company-operated margins for the quarter reached 19.5%, a level not achieved since 1994, despite a challenging commodity cost environment.

“Europe’s momentum continued to build, with the segment reporting its strongest comparable sales growth rate in more than two years. We are encouraged by this progress and confident that our service, food, value and marketing initiatives will generate steady improvements over the long term.

“We’ve also seen renewed strength in Asia/Pacific with continued robust trends in Australia, a strong rebound in China, and encouraging signs of improvement in Japan.”

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KEY HIGHLIGHTS – CONSOLIDATED

Dollars in millions, except per common share data

THE FOLLOWING DEFINITIONS APPLY TO THESE TERMS AS USED THROUGHOUT THIS RELEASE

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains certain forward-looking statements which reflect management’s expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speaks only as of July 22, 2004. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. A list of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or underlying, our forward-looking statements is detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as our annual and quarterly reports.

RELATED COMMUNICATIONS

McDonald’s Corporation will host a live investor webcast at 10:00 a.m. Central Time on July 22, 2004. For access, go to www.investor.mcdonalds.com. An archived replay of this webcast will be available for a limited time.

See Exhibit 99.2 in the Company’s Form 8-K filing for additional, supplemental information related to the Company’s results for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2004.

The Company plans to release July 2004 sales information on Monday, August 9.

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McDONALD’S CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME

n/m Not meaningful

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McDONALD’S CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME

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