America Online Builds Online Shopping Momentum.

Business Editors

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2000

At $3.9 Billion, March Quarter Spending Surpasses Holiday Season

-- And Nearly Doubles Over the Same Period Last Year

Nearly 70% of AOL Members Buy in the Last Six Months

Building on its record-breaking holiday shopping season, America Online, Inc. [NYSE: AOL], the world's leading interactive services company, today announced that online purchasing by AOL members is accelerating its momentum through the March quarter of this year.

According to a recent study from the Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Internet Research Group, AOL members spent $3.9 billion in the quarter ending March 31, 2000 -- nearly double the amount spent during the same period last year and surpassing AOL's $2.5 billion in online retail sales during the 1999 holiday shopping season, traditionally the strongest retail period of the year.

In addition, an increasing number of AOL members are buying online, with 15 million people -- two-thirds of AOL's membership -- making purchases online in the past six months -- up nearly 18% over the year-ago quarter. That makes AOL members the largest aggregate audience of online shoppers in cyberspace. IRG also found that nearly 40% of AOL's more than 22 million members made an online purchase in March alone.

AOL members are also buying more online -- with the average member spending 29% more monthly than they did last year. These buyers are increasing their shopping in categories including "Clothing," "Furniture and Home Furnishings," and "Health and Beauty" -- a trend highlighted by the fact that in the last year, AOL has seen the percentage of women shopping online increase from 46% of all AOL buyers in March 1999 to 49% in March 2000.

Bob Pittman, AOL's President and Chief Operating Officer, said: "Increasingly, e-commerce is becoming essential to consumers' everyday retail buying, and the momentum we continue to build in online shopping make it clear that AOL will continue to deliver on the e-commerce front. Because we've continually focused on bringing our members the best and most comprehensive shopping experience in cyberspace -- as evidenced by existing buyers increasing their spending levels and new buyers shopping for the first time every day -- we're confident that online shopping will continue to grow in popularity."

Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet services, America Online, with more than 22 million members, and CompuServe, with more than 2.5 million members; several leading Internet brands including ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and AOL.COM portals; the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers; AOL Moviefone, the nation's no. 1 movie listing guide and ticketing service; and Spinner.com and NullSoft's Winamp, leaders in Internet music. Through its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the company develops and offers easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for companies operating in the Net Economy.