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Levin to step down as AOL's chief executive

Jim Hu CNet

Published: 05 Dec 2001 15:57 GMT

AOL Time Warner has announced that chief executive Gerald Levin will retire in May 2002 and will be succeeded by Richard Parsons, the company's co-chief operating officer.

"After spending virtually my entire career at this great company, it is obviously a major decision for me to begin this succession process," Levin said in a statement. "But this is a step that I have been thinking about for some time and whose time has come. Given that we are almost a full year into the merger and that an outstanding management team is now in place at the company, I am convinced that AOL Time Warner should begin an orderly transition to a new era of leadership."

In conjunction with the move, Robert Pittman will become the sole chief operating officer, and Steve Case remains chairman of the company.

Parsons and Pittman "offer us a powerful and complementary combination of intellect, business acumen and strategic perspective, and I am looking forward to working with them closely in the years ahead," Case said in a statement. Parsons "has exactly the right style of leadership, understanding of people, ability to build alliances and commitment to serve the public interest that is critical for the company."

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