Mr Steve Case has resigned as chairman of AOL Time Warner amid criticism that the Internet company's record media merger he helped to engineer was a failure.
The resignation, effective in May, completes the exodus of the key architects of the $106.2 billion deal, which angered investors for not delivering on its promised to supercharge growth by marrying old and new media.
Mr Case, an Internet pioneer who brought e-mail to the masses and built a start-up into the world's largest media company, said he decided to leave so he would not be a distraction to the company.
AOL Time Warner stock has fallen 70 per cent since it completed the biggest media merger in US history in January 2001. It has suffered from the meltdown of the Internet economy, the collapse of the advertising market and federal investigations into America Online's accounting practices.
Mr Case acknowledged the merger fell short of expectations he had when the deal was announced in January 2000, but he defended its premise.
The company's America Online unit was once seen as the crown jewel of the combined business but has instead dragged down its fortunes, offsetting strength at other divisions that are home to cable networks CNN and HBO, Peoplemagazine and Madonna.
Last year US officials began investigating the accounting practices of America Online. As a result of findings from an internal review, AOL Time Warner plans to restate results for a two-year period.
Although some investors have advocated spinning off America Online to unwind the merger, executives have said that is not being considered.