America Online announced Wednesday that Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen will become chief technology officer once AOL's acquisition of Netscape closes in early spring.
America Online, the world's leading Internet services company, said Andreessen will focus on defining the merged company's long-term technology direction. He will report directly to Steve Case, AOL's chairman and chief executive.
Andreessen, 27, was a member of the University of Illinois team that developed Mosaic, the first easy-to-use software for viewing information on the Web, and a predecessor to the phenomenally popular Netscape browser.
He has personified the power of young, computer-savvy entrepreneurial talent to create new ways of communicating and doing business. In the process, Andreessen became a poster child for the many overnight millionaires that resulted.
In a phone interview, Andreessen described his mission at America Online as bringing the power of Internet communication to an ever-wider audience.
"The Internet is still way too hard to use," Andreessen said in a phone interview, noting that, "Even in the United States, we have penetrated only 25 percent of the market."
The computer programmer turned visionary said he plans to help develop the company's "AOL Anywhere" strategy of bringing America Online services to handheld computers, televisions, screen telephones, high-speed cable and phone connections, and other media.
He also plans to remain involved in Internet policy issues and relations between Netscape and Sun Microsystems, which has agreed to a three-year technology and marketing pact with AOL and Netscape.
"Marc possesses the ideal mix of vision, expertise, and experience to make him the perfect fit for this new position and an excellent overall addition to our senior management team," said Case, his new boss, in a statement.
An AOL spokeswoman said Andreessen will not oversee any AOL technical operations or manage Netscape software efforts. He will be charged with evaluating emerging technologies and reaching out to the wider technology community.
Andreessen said he wanted to act as an emissary to bring together the mainstream, marketing-driven culture of America Online with the leading-edge software development atmosphere of Netscape.
"There's been a lot of differences, but there is a lot of similarities," Andreessen said of the perceived cultural divide between AOL in the East and Netscape in the West. "They both are real entrepreneurial cultures," he said.
"I would hope to be a real catalyst to ... splice those genes together," he said.
Andreessen said he will live and work on both coasts, keeping his home in Palo Alto, California, near Netscape, while also living in a home he has recently purchased near America Online headquarters in Dulles, Virginia.
Currently, Andreessen serves as chief technology officer of Internet software company Netscape. Andreessen has served as a Netscape director since April 1994.
His hiring is contingent on completion of AOL's US$4.2 billion deal to buy Netscape, a merger that promises to remake the Internet business landscape by joining the top Internet services firm with Netscape's software development prowess.
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