America Online Vice Chairman Kenneth J. Novack Elected To Company's Board of Directors.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 25, 2000

America Online, Inc. today announced that its Vice Chairman, Kenneth J. Novack, has been elected to the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Novack will fill the seat vacated by Thomas Middelhoff, Bertelsmann's Chairman and CEO, who resigned his Board position earlier today.

Mr. Novack, who has played a number of critical roles for America Online during the past 11 years, was a key architect of the recently announced merger between AOL and Time Warner. Along with AOL President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman, Time Warner President Richard Parsons, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Digital Media Richard Bressler, Novack serves on the four-person integration committee that will oversee the combination of AOL and Time Warner.

A leading strategist and deal maker, Mr. Novack also was instrumental in successfully negotiating the acquisition of Netscape Communications and the alliance with Sun Microsystems in 1998.

&uot;Ken Novack has been a trusted advisor to me and the Board for more than a decade,&uot; said America Online Chairman and CEO Steve Case. &uot;His sage counsel, strategic insights and his unique ability to negotiate complex, landscape-altering transactions have helped establish our Company as an industry leader. Ken's election to the Board today is recognition of the key role he has played at the Company and the vital role he will continue to play in the years ahead.&uot;

As Vice Chairman, in addition to his broad strategic responsibilities, Mr. Novack oversees the Company's Legal Department and AOL Investments, the Company's venture investing unit. Prior to being appointed Vice Chairman in 1998, Mr. Novack had served as outside counsel to America Online, as a senior partner at the law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. He had also taken on special assignments and led America Online in a number of alliances and transactions, including the Company's joint ventures with Tribune Company, Mitsui and Bertelsmann, AOL's initial public offering in 1992, the acquisition of CompuServe, and the Company's investment in the FamilyEducation Company. Mr. Novack has also served America Online in other capacities, including managing the recruitment of senior executives for the Company and serving as Acting General Counsel.

Mr. Novack, age 58, joined Mintz Levin in 1966 as an associate and rose to the position of Managing Partner in 1972. He served on the firm's Executive Committee from 1972-1998 and was President and Chief Executive Officer from 1991 to 1994.

Mr. Novack is a member of the Boards of Directors of Appleton Partners, Inc. and FamilyEducation Company, and he is an Advisory Director for the Gordon Brothers Group. He has served as Co-Chairman of the Boston Bar Association Committee on Securities Law and is currently a Member of the American Bar Association Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities and the American Law Institute.

Mr. Novack's community service includes positions as Director of the AOL Foundation and Trustee of the Museum of Science and the New England Medical Center. He founded the Mintz Levin Foundation.

Mr. Novack graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. He resides with his wife and son in Boston and Rockport, Massachusetts, and has three grown daughters.

Other members of America Online's Board of Directors follow: Stephen M. Case, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, America Online, Inc.; Daniel F. Akerson, Chairman, Nextel Communications, Inc. and Co-Chairman, Eagle River, LLC; James Barksdale, Managing Partner, The Barksdale Group; Frank J. Caufield, General Partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield &Byers; Miles Gilburne, formerly Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, America Online, Inc.; General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Chairman and President, Worldwide Associates, Inc.; Robert W. Pittman, President and Chief Operating Officer, America Online, Inc.; General Colin Powell, Chairman, America's Promise; Franklin Raines, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fannie Mae; and Marjorie M. Scardino, Chief Executive Officer, Pearson PLC.

About America Online, Inc.

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 20 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 # 1 movie listing guide and ticketing service; and Spinner Networks and NullSoft, Inc., 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.