Userplane Appoints Sam Wick to Head Business Development; Will Grow Online Audiences in Entertainment, Media Sectors.

Recently Acquired by AOL, Company Announces Move to Larger HQ in Santa Monica, Doubles Development Team to Expand Online Communication Platform

LOS ANGELES -- Userplane (www.userplane.com), a premier communication platform for online communities and a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, today announced the appointment of Sam Wick to spearhead the company's business-development efforts. The company also announced that it is relocating to larger quarters in Santa Monica, Calif., and increasing its staff by 50 percent.

Acquired by AOL in August, Userplane's charter is to extend the relevance and reach of AOL Instant Messenger. The company provides Web-based instant messaging and live audio/visual chat to more than 100,000 online communities, including MySpace.com, Honda and Date.com. Wick's responsibilities include expanding Userplane's presence in the entertainment and media sectors.

Wick has more than 10 years' experience in marketing, business development, and relationship management for online companies, traditional media, and the music industry. For the last three years, as MECA Communications' vice president of business development, he led an online marketing group that designed and implemented private-label instant messengers for a wide variety of entertainment properties and brands.

"Sam personifies the qualities that have made Userplane a pioneer in introducing private, branded IM and chat to some of the Web's hottest communities," said Mike Jones, Userplane co-founder and CEO. "He's got an entrepreneurial mindset, a creative outlook and tremendous contacts within the entertainment industry. He will play a key role in raising our profile - and our audience - in the entertainment and media spaces."

In addition to Wick, Userplane plans to add a total of six employees during the fourth quarter - a significant endeavor for a lean, entrepreneurial team of 12. Most of the new hires will be developers and other technical staff, Jones said.

By mid-October, Userplane will complete its relocation from its mid-Wilshire Los Angeles base to offices in Santa Monica. Userplane's new address is 1351 4th Street, Suite 200, Santa Monica, Calif. 90401.

About Userplane

A wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, Userplane is the world's premier communication platform for online communities. The company's hosted applications enable instant community and communication for websites of any scale and audience. The combination of instant and elegant with robust and powerful has made the platform a must-have for thriving sites worldwide - supporting millions of daily users. Founded in 2001 by long-time partners Michael Jones, Nate Thelen, and Javier Hall, Userplane is a diverse and talented team headquartered in Los Angeles. AOL LLC is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) and is based in Dulles, Virginia.