AOL and First USA In $500 Million Marketing Pact

In what is being hailed as the biggest Internet deal of its kind, America Online, Inc. Wednesday announced a $500 million advertising and marketing agreement with BANK ONE CORP. subsidiary First USA. The new five-year alliance extends the companies earlier partnership, begun in 1996, in which they issued a co-branded credit card, the AOL Visa card. Today_s announcement names First USA as the exclusive marketer of credit card products and services on AOL, as well as subsidiaries CompuServe, AOL.COM and AOL Instant Messenger in the U.S. and Canada. Products and services will also be marketed on AOL_s Digital City. The companies said they expect the union to yield up to $500 million if targeted goals are reached and also anticipate major guaranteed revenue to AOL and marketing agreements to First USA.