Powell, Hambrecht To Be Among AOL Directors After Spinoff

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

AOL said former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell and William Hambrecht will be among the 10 people to be its initial directors as the Internet company continues to move ahead with its planned spinoff from Time Warner Inc. (TWX).

The split will comes as AOL continues to struggle as subscribers to its dial-up Internet-connection service continues to dwindle along with recent declines in advertising revenue.

The nine announced Monday will join AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong on the board after the spinoff. He will be chairman.

Powell, son of Gen. Colin Powell, served as the FCC's chairman from 2001 to 2005, and since then has worked for private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. It focuses on media, entertainment, communications and information investments. Powell also has his own tech-and-media advisory firm.

Hambrecht founded WR Hambrecht + Co., a investment bank specializing in Internet companies, and has been its chairman and CEO since 1998.

Others to join AOL's board include David Reynolds, the recently retired chief financial officer of CBS Corp. (CBS) and former Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) executive Richard Dalzell.

-By Kevin Kingsbury; Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2354; kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2009 09:45 ET (13:45 GMT)

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