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

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

Mr. Novack, who has played a number of critical roles for America Onlineduring the past 11 years, was a key architect of the recently announcedmerger between AOL and Time Warner. Along with AOL President and ChiefOperating Officer Robert Pittman, Time Warner President Richard Parsons, andChairman and Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Digital Media RichardBressler, Novack serves on the four-person integration committee that willoversee the combination of AOL and Time Warner.

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

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

As Vice Chairman, in addition to his broad strategic responsibilities, Mr.Novack oversees the Company's Legal Department and AOL Investments, theCompany's venture investing unit. Prior to being appointed Vice Chairman in1998, Mr. Novack had served as outside counsel to America Online, as a seniorpartner at the law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. Hehad also taken on special assignments and led America Online in a number ofalliances and transactions, including the Company's joint ventures withTribune Company, Mitsui and Bertelsmann, AOL's initial public offering in1992, the acquisition of CompuServe, and the Company's investment in theFamilyEducation Company. Mr. Novack has also served America Online in othercapacities, including managing the recruitment of senior executives for theCompany and serving as Acting General Counsel.

Mr. Novack, age 58, joined Mintz Levin in 1966 as an associate and rose tothe position of Managing Partner in 1972. He served on the firm's ExecutiveCommittee from 1972-1998 and was President and Chief Executive Officer from1991 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 GordonBrothers Group. He has served as Co-Chairman of the Boston Bar AssociationCommittee on Securities Law and is currently a Member of the American BarAssociation Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities and the AmericanLaw Institute.

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

Mr. Novack graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. Heresides with his wife and son in Boston and Rockport, Massachusetts, and hasthree 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. andCo-Chairman, Eagle River, LLC; James Barksdale, Managing Partner, TheBarksdale Group; Frank J. Caufield, General Partner, Kleiner, Perkins,Caufield & Byers; Miles Gilburne, formerly Senior Vice President, CorporateDevelopment, America Online, Inc.; General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Chairmanand President, Worldwide Associates, Inc.; Robert W. Pittman, President andChief Operating Officer, America Online, Inc.; General Colin Powell,Chairman, America's Promise; Franklin Raines, Chairman and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Fannie Mae; and Marjorie M. Scardino, Chief Executive Officer,Pearson PLC.