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AOL Acquires Truveo, Inc.


WEBWIRE –

January 10, 2006, Online consumers seeking the best video search engine will now find it on the leading free portal on the web - AOL.com (http://aol.com/video). Internet video search pioneer Truveo, Inc. has been acquired by America Online, Inc., solidifying AOL’s leadership position as the premier destination for a full suite of video and search services.

AOL’s acquisition agreement with Truveo was signed and closed on December 21, 2005. Financial terms were not disclosed. Truveo was previously privately held, and financed by strategic venture and angel investors.

Truveo (http://www.truveo.com), based in Burlingame, California, was co-founded by CEO Dr. Tim Tuttle and CTO Dr. Adam Beguelin in January 2004. Truveo subsequently launched its premier video search engine technology in September 2005.

Truveo’s approach to video search utilizes a proprietary web crawling technology called “Visual Crawling”. This unique technology has enabled Truveo to amass one of the most comprehensive indexes of high-quality, current video on the web. The strength of Truveo’s Visual Crawling is its ability to automatically discover video files and related information on complex, dynamic web pages – a task that has been notoriously challenging for existing conventional crawling technologies. Truveo’s technology continuously crawls the most popular video content sites on the web in real-time to provide consumers with the most updated and relevant results that include breaking news, sports, and entertainment video. And, as a result of this unique approach, Truveo’s video search engine includes a large selection of popular video that cannot be found in any other search engine – helping consumers to find the ‘eureka’ moment in their online video search experience every single time.

Once Truveo is integrated within AOL’s existing, industry-leading search and video products in the coming months, AOL.com will deliver a single, comprehensive and robust video ‘one-stop-shop’ search experience that provides consumers with the access, functionality, premium assets, original content, and advanced search tools for unparalleled online video discovery. The acquisition of Truveo by AOL complements and enhances the early leadership established by AOL in the video search engine arena, beginning with the purchase of Seattle-based Singingfish in November 2003, and continuing with the launch of AOL Video Search in June 2005.

AOL has made several additional announcements recently, expanding its compelling repertoire of consumer video and search offerings to include: the launch of its Video on Demand destination on AOL.com; the record-breaking global broadcast online of the “Live 8” concerts; an extensive library of over 20,000 original, premium video assets; high-quality video playback through the new “Hi-Q” video format; landmark content and original programming agreements – such as the Warner Bros. “In2TV” offering and the AOL-Telepictures new, on-demand entertainment news network – TMZ.com; and, AOL’s exciting investment and partnership with Brightcove, a web video distribution pioneer.

“Consumers across the web have eagerly anticipated a video search engine that offers relevant, up-to-the-minute, premium video results,” said Jonathan F. Miller, Chairman & CEO of America Online, Inc. “The addition of Truveo’s video search technology, video assets, and experienced talent complements the overall video experience on AOL and takes it to new heights. Truveo is a hidden gem in the video marketplace, offering AOL members and users of AOL.com a vast, new array of tools and an extensive collection of updated, hard-to-find video assets. The Truveo acquisition takes AOL even farther down the path of being the premier destination on the internet for video and search.”

“The next few years will see a dramatic increase in the amount of video available on the web,” said Dr. Tim Tuttle, CEO and co-founder of Truveo, Inc. “Truveo has spent the past two years assembling a world-class team and developing powerful technology uniquely capable of finding and indexing this vast amount of web video. We are excited to join AOL in building a comprehensive, robust, and unparalleled consumer video experience. We will bring together the best free portal on the web with the best video search engine on the web.”

Truveo’s corporate headquarters will remain in California. Truveo will be integrated with AOL’s existing Video and Search teams, led by Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President, Media Networks; and Jim Riesenbach, Senior Vice President, AOL Search.

Truveo was AOL Inc.’s fifth announced corporate acquisition of 2005 – following the acquisitions of Music Now, LLC in November, Weblogs, Inc. in September, and Xdrive, Inc. and Wildseed, Ltd. in August.

For more on Truveo, please visit (http://www.truveo.com). Truveo and the Truveo corporate logo are trademarks of Truveo, Inc.

AOL Video Search
AOL’s existing video search engine delivers one of the most comprehensive repositories of high-quality video content online in key categories from entertainment to news. Its database draws from the leading AOL® Video on-demand archive of more than 20,000 licensed and originally produced video assets including popular exclusive and AOL-original programs like AOL® Music Sessions, AOL® Music LIVE!, the Moviefone® “Unscripted” series, the Moviefone® Short Film Festival, AOL® Coaches and more; 2.5 million video assets available on the Internet indexed through AOL’s Singingfish™ audio/video search engine; and RSS feeds from top video streaming sites. This combined approach lets people search from one place for high-quality, current online video spanning popular music videos, movie features, television clips, news coverage, sports highlights, independently produced videos and more.

About Truveo, Inc.
Truveo, headquartered in Burlingame, Calif., is building the most comprehensive search engine for video on the Web. The company’s unique Visual Crawler technology enables Truveo to find videos that current search engines miss, and deliver highly relevant and up-to-the-minute results to users. The company’s video search engine can be accessed at (http://www.truveo.com).

About America Online, Inc.
America Online, Inc. and its subsidiaries operate a leading network of Web brands and the largest Internet access subscription service in the United States. Brands include the AOL® service, the AOL.com® website, and the AIM®, MapQuest®, Moviefone®, Netscape®, CompuServe® and ICQ® services. America Online offers a range of digital services including the TotalTalk® voice service. The company also has operations in Canada and Europe. America Online, Inc. is based in Dulles, Virginia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).

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