AMERICA ONLINE ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT EXPANSION OF MULTIMEDIA, INTERNET
PUBLISHING AND PRODUCTION CAPABILITIES; ACQUIRES MEDIOR AND WAIS

VIENNA, Va., May 22 -- America Online, Inc., (Nasdaq: AMER) announced today
that it has agreed to acquire two innovative multimedia and Internet
publishing and production companies, Medior, Inc. and WAIS, Inc. The move
is expected to significantly advance AOL's strategic imperative to provide
its partners the ability to simply and easily create an integrated
strategy and "best of breed" presence in the converging mediums of online,
multimedia and the Internet.

"With the acquisition of Medior and WAIS, America Online will be able to
offer its media partners a turnkey solution to provide an integrated
presence in online, multimedia and the World Wide Web," said Steve Case,
President and CEO of America Online, Inc. "With the technology and
innovation represented by these companies, America Online will be
positioned to lead the interactive publishing revolution, providing
solutions for partners ranging from large media companies to emerging
entrepreneurs."

Medior, Inc., headquartered in San Mateo, CA, is a privately-held company
widely recognized as the leading developer of interactive media
properties. Covering a broad range of applications -- including
entertainment, publishing, education and electronic commerce, Medior has
generated a track record of over 150 successful products, dozens of
industry awards and a number of proprietary technologies.

America Online and Medior share a vision for interactive publishing that
marries the rich, engaging appeal of multimedia with the real-time and
community attributes of the online environment. Both companies
participated in the 2Market joint venture, the innovative, CD-ROM-based
interactive shopping service developed by Medior, with marketing,
technology and financing shared by Apple Computer,Inc. and America Online.
In addition, Medior has played a key role in helping to transform America
Online's "look and feel" that features seamless integration of text,
photos, graphics and sound.

With the acquisition of Medior, America Online will accelerate its role in
providing partners with enhanced multimedia publishing capabilities. By
integrating content and developing software to produce interactive
programming, Medior pushes the creative envelope, while bringing
state-of-the-art interactive multimedia products to market. Medior's
"studio" is a full-service entity that handles all aspects of interactive
development and design. These include research and development,
engineering, quality assurance, screen interface, 3D texturing and video
and production services.

"We're thrilled to be joining forces with America Online," said Barry
Schuler, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Medior, Inc. "The combination of
America Online and Medior will result in a new class of technology and
services designed to empower AOL's partners to expand into innovative
multimedia publishing for content ranging from encyclopedias to rock and
roll."

America Online will acquire Medior for approximately 825,000 shares in
stock and expects the transaction to be completed no later than May 31,
subject to certain customary conditions. The merger will be effected as a
tax-free exchange and accounted for as a pooling of interest.

WAIS, Inc. (Wide Area Information Servers), headquartered in San Francisco,
Calif., was founded in 1992 by Internet pioneer Brewster Kahle. The
company is widely recognized as the leading publishing system in the
Internet industry.

With the acquisition of WAIS, America Online will be able to offer its
partners a complete solution to World Wide Web access, from producing a
Home Page to full administration of the Web Site once its up and running.
The company develops and markets the WAISserver and WAIS Production
Services, which create custom on-line services for publishers such as
Encyclopaedia Britannica and Dow Jones and provides Internet users with
access to books, magazines, news, product data sheets, technical
overviews, company information and more.

WAISserver allows content providers to index and publish large databases to
the Internet, where they can be searched from around the world, and
automatically creates HTML documents on the fly as it indexes content
databases. In addition to implementing WAISserver technology, WAIS
Production Services can custom integrate modules for: User registration
and feedback; transaction-based and subscription-based billing;
personalized invoicing for online shopping; archived searching for back
issues; automatic content expiration; new content alerting, and much
more.

"WAIS Inc.'s mission has been two-fold: to develop publishing tools and
services for distributing information over the Internet and to improve the
quality of the information published there," said Brewster Kahle,
President and CEO of WAIS, Inc. "Given America Online's significant
momentum in the Internet market, this acquisition will empower both
companies to offer enhanced services and widen the capability of both
content providers and consumers to benefit from the Internet."

America Online will acquire WAIS for approximately 400,000 shares in stock
and expects the transaction to be completed no later than May 31, subject
to customary conditions. The merger will be effected as a tax- free
exchange and accounted for as a pooling of interests.

America Online, Inc., based in Vienna, Va., is the largest and fastest
growing provider of online services in the U.S. with the most active
subscriber base. AOL offers its more than 2.5 million subscribers a wide
variety of services including electronic mail, conferencing, software,
computing support, interactive magazines and newspapers and online
classes, as well as easy and affordable access to services of the
Internet. Founded in 1985, AOL has established strategic alliances with
dozens of companies, including Time Warner, ABC, Knight-Ridder, Tribune,
Hachette, IBM, and American Express. Personal Computer owners can obtain
American Online software at major retailers and bookstores, or by calling
800-827-6364.

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