Just one week after America Online announced a major upgrade to its Instant Messenger service, the executive responsible for the division's turnaround has quit the company. Chamath Palihapitiya, 29
years old, has said he will leave the Time Warner company, planning to join a venture capital firm next year. For AOL, Palihapitiya's departure comes in the midst of negotiations with Google and
Microsoft. over the sale of a minority stake in the Web portal. According to the
Wall Street Journal, the move emphasizes how Internet companies are once again on the radar of
venture capital firms, who are eager to bulk up their consumer technology expertise. Palihapitiya was responsible for growing Instant Messenger's share of ad revenue threefold in the year he took
charge of the division.
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