AOL/Bertelsmann Online Announce Management Team for Joint Venture

AOL Names Mark Minkin New VP of Interactive Marketing Group

Vienna, VA, July 26, 1995 -- Bertelsmann, AG and America Online, Inc. today
announced the completed management team for their joint venture. With this
new management team in place, the joint venture can continue to move
forward to enter and lead the interactive services market in Europe.
Services are expected to launch in the UK, France and Germany later this
year.

Jonathan Bulkeley has been appointed Managing Director in the United
Kingdom, Bertrand Le Ficher Managing Director in France, Jan Henric
Buettner and Andreas von Blottnitz Managing Directors in Germany. All will
be responsible for the development, creation and marketing of interactive
online services in each respective country. The Managing Directors will
report to Bernd Schiphorst, President and CEO of the Joint Venture who is
located at the European headquarters in Hamburg.

Additionally, Dr. Urlich Neuert was named CFO of the joint venture. He was
most recently Vice President for Business Development at BMG Entertainment
in New York.

Bulkeley was most recently Vice President of Business Development at AOL
where he was responsible for the development of new revenue streams,
primarily advertising and transactions. Under Bulkeley's direction, AOL
launched aggressive programs to attract both advertisers and direct
marketers to use America Online. Prior to his current position, Bulkeley
was General Manager of Media at AOL and was responsible for the
development and production of all AOL media partnerships.

Before joining AOL in 1993, Bulkeley spent eight years at Time Inc. in a
variety of positions. Most recently, Bulkeley was Director of Marketing
and Development for Money Magazine, a position he held for three years.
Prior to that, Bulkeley held sales and marketing positions at Time and
Discover Magazines.

Mark Minkin will succeed Bulkeley in his position at America Online as Vice
President of Interactive Marketing. Most recently Minkin was Senior Vice
President for New Media Services at Redgate Communications, a wholly owned
subsidiary of America Online, and is an 18-year veteran of the
international advertising and marketing communities. Before working for
Redgate Communications, Minkin held several senior level positions
throughout a long career at the advertising firm Hill Holliday of Boston.
In the early 1980s, Minkin established the technology group at Hill
Holliday, bringing in new business from such start-up companies at the
time as Lotus Development Corp. and Cellular One.

Bertrand Le Ficher was formerly Assistant to the Director of Antenne de
France 2 and holds a Masters in Media Management from the Annenberg School
of Communications and a DESS from Celsa. Le Ficher served as the Director
of Programs and Marketing of the television network Super Channel, one of
the largest pan-European cable and satellite networks.

Before being appointed co-directors of the service, Buettner and Blottnitz
acted as consultants to Bertelsmann as it planned it online services in
Germany.

Based in Guetersloh, Germany, the privately held Bertelsmann is the second
largest media company in the world and employs 57,000 people in more than
300 companies and profit centers spread across more than 40 countries. In
its most recent business year Bertelsmann's revenues topped approximately
$11 billion (DM 18.4), with a net profit after tax of $476 million. To
prepare for the company's expansion into new avenues of the international
media industry Bertelsmann integrated its divisions in 1993 into four
strategic business units, structured by product lines, namely Book
(general interest and professional publishing and book clubs); BMG
Entertainment (music, music publishing, direct market music clubs, video,
film, radio, television and storage media); Press (Gruner+Jahr, magazines,
newspapers); and Industry (printing and manufacturing).

America Online, Inc. (NASDAQ symbol: AMER), 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 3 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. AOL has a global workforce consisting of more than 2,500 people.
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 America
Online software at major retailers and bookstores, or by calling
800-827-6364.
 
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