Lycos Acquires Wired Digital

[James Glave <james@wired.com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/15437.html

Lycos Acquires Wired Digital 
6:00 a.m.  6.Oct.98.PDT

In a move that continues the trend of consolidation in the Internet
industry, Web search and community firm Lycos has acquired Wired Digital,
the parent company of Wired News, for approximately US$83 million in Lycos
stock. Lycos said in a statement that the combined traffic of both
companies will allow Lycos, already the second most visited Web index
service, to reach more than 40 percent of Web users. 

Tuesday's acquisition coincides with the introduction of "The Lycos
Network," a collection of service, news, and community sites that now
includes Wired Digital properties Wired News, the HotBot search engine, and
the Webmonkey developer site, in addition to existing Lycos sites
Lycos.com, WhoWhere, Tripod, and others. 

According to Relevant Knowledge, Wired Digital attracts nearly five million
unique visitors a month. 

The acquisition is scheduled to close by the end of the calendar year and
is subject to Wired shareholder approval. Lycos (LCOS) will also assume
Wired Digital's stock option plan. 

Under the deal, Wired Digital will continue to operate from its San
Francisco, California, office as a business unit of Lycos, and Beth
Vanderslice, president of Wired Digital, will report to Lycos CEO Bob Davis. 

The Wired Digital brands will remain distinct operating units of Lycos,
which Lycos said would allow the company to reach multiple Web audience
segments. 

For example, Lycos said in a statement that Wired Digital's HotBot search
engine attracts a "tech-savvy Web veteran," while Lycos.com serves a
broader audience. According to Media Metrix, the two search engines attract
distinct audiences, with only 20 percent overlap between the two. 

The Lycos Network and Wired Digital have already taken steps to share each
other's content and services. Wired News is available on the headline page
of Lycos.com, while Lycos' Angelfire home pages and MailCity e-mail
applications are now being offered to HotBot users. 

Lycos search offers links to HotBot and other Wired Digital properties
through top keyword searches. Further, Webmonkey's Web developer tutorials
and resources will be available to Tripod and Lycos.com homepage communities. 

In May of this year, Wired Ventures, the former parent company of Wired
Digital, sold Wired magazine to Advance Magazine Publishers. 

Copyright � 1994-98 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.




James Glave, News Editor, Wired News, http://www.wired.com  (415) 276-8430