Andreessen Out As Aol Tech Chief

Marc Andreessen, the visionary who helped build the world’s first commercial Internet browser, is stepping down as technology chief for America Online Inc., as he follows his entrepreneurial spirit.

After helping change the way the world communicates with Netscape Navigator, a program to easily navigate the World Wide Web, Andreessen said Friday he is seeking new challenges after a stint as AOL’s first chief technology officer.

The co-founder of Netscape Communications Inc. said in a telephone interview that he relinquished the technology officer post to devote more time to investing in promising start-up technology firms.

Andreessen, 28, was a graduate student at the University of Illinois in 1994 when he helped found Netscape with James Clark, a computer executive who had previously founded Silicon Graphics Inc., a maker of powerful PCs.

Andreessen helped turn some of his early work on an easy “point and click” method of navigating the Internet into the Netscape browser, which rapidly became the most popular way for surfing the Web.