According to sources close to the circumstances, AOL has hired Alex Gounares as its chief technology officer. Gounare's departure was declared internally at Microsoft today, where he is corporate vice president of Advertising R&D and CTO for the software giant's Online Services division.

According source, Gounares was the corporate vice president for Corporate Strategy, where he was liable for helping place the taken as an entire strategic direction for the company. Before that, Gounares spend 3 years as the technology assistant to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, and he also was liable for helping formulate and drive the technical strategy for the company.