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Lycos

This article is about the search engine. For the former corporation Terra Lycos, see Terra Networks.
Lycos, Inc.
A screenshot of Lycos.com as of 2015
Type of businessSubsidiary
Type of site
Search engine and web portal
Available inMultilingual
FoundedMay 1994; 31 years ago (1994-05)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
HeadquartersWaltham, Massachusetts, United States
Founder(s)Michael Loren Mauldin
ParentBrightcom Group
URLwww.lycos.com
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedApril 13, 1995; 30 years ago (1995-04-13)
Current statusActive

Lycos, Inc. (stylized as LYCOS), a subsidiary of Brightcom Group, offers a search engine, web portal, chat service, domain name registration service, and email client. The company also owns Tripod and Angelfire. It was established in 1994 as a university spin-off from Carnegie Mellon University.

The name "Lycos" is short for "Lycosidae", which is Latin for "wolf spider".[1]

History

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Lycos began in May 1994 as a research project by Michael Loren Mauldin of Carnegie Mellon University.[2] Lycos was funded with approximately US$2 million in venture capital funding from CMGI.[3][4]

Bob Davis became the CEO and first employee of the new company in 1995.[5] He concentrated on building the company into an advertising-supported web portal, led by Bill Townsend.[6]

In April 1996, the company completed the fastest initial public offering from inception to offering in NASDAQ history, ending its first day of trading with a market value of $300 million. It also became the first search engine to become a public company, before rivals Yahoo! and Excite.[7]

In May 1997, the company formed Lycos Europe, a joint venture with Bertelsmann.[8]

Lycos began offering e-mail services in October 1997.[9]

That year, it became one of the first profitable Internet businesses.[10]

In February 1998, Lycos acquired Tripod.com for $58 million.[11]

In March 1998, Lycos paid $4 million for a 9% stake in GlobeComm, which powered its free email service.[12]

In August 1998, Lycos acquired WhoWhere for $133 million in stock.[13]

In October 1998, the company acquired the digital assets of Wired for $83 million in stock after the print version of the magazine was sold to Advance Magazine Publishers.[14] The deal also included Hotbot[15] and WebMonkey, which was shut in 2004 but relaunched in 2008.[16]

In a brief surge in April 1999, the website was visited by 52% of all internet users, which was more than the reach of Yahoo.[17][18]

In 1999, the company abandoned its internal search technology and outsourced search technology to AlltheWeb.[19]

In April 1999, Lycos launched an internet radio service.[20]

In September 1999, the company acquired Quote.com for $78 million in stock.[21]

In November 1999, Lycos acquired Gamesville for $207 million in stock.[22]

In December 1999, the company formed Lycos Asia, a $50 million joint venture with Singtel.[23]

In June 2000, Lycos acquired Matchmaker.com for $44 million in cash.[24] it was sold in February 2006.[25]

In July 2000, Lycos began using Microsoft Windows 2000 software and Intel processors to power its platform.[26]

In October 2000, near the peak of the dot-com bubble, Lycos was acquired by Terra Networks, a division of Telefónica, for $12.5 billion and was renamed Terra Lycos.[27]

In January 2001, the company acquired RagingBull.com.[28]

In October 2002, the company acquired GetRelevant.[29]

In October 2004, Terra sold Lycos to Daum Communications Corporation, now Kakao, for $95.4 million in cash, less than 2% of Terra's initial multibillion-dollar investment.[30]

In July 2006, the company sold the digital assets of Wired to Condé Nast Publications which remerged it with the print version of the magazine.[31]

In February 2006, Lycos sold Quote.com and RagingBull.com to FT Interactive Data Corporation for $30 million.[32]

In March 2006, Lycos introduced phone call services, including video chat, real-time video on demand, and an MP3 player.[33]

In November 2006, Lycos introduced Lycos Cinema.[34]

In February 2007, Lycos Mix was launched, allowing users to pull video clips from YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video and MySpace Video and allowed users to create playlists where other users could add video comments and chat in real-time.[35]

Lycos was sold for $36 million in August 2010 to Ybrant Digital, an Internet marketing company based in Hyderabad, India.[36][37][38] Ybrant Digital paid $20 million at signing and there was a legal dispute over magnitude of the second installment between Ybrant and Daum. In 2018, a New York court ruled in favor of Daum and appointed Daum (by then merged with Kakao) as receiver of Ybrant's 56% ownership interest in Lycos.[39]

In May 2012, Rob Balazy was named CEO.[40]

In June 2015, Lycos announced the Band and Ring wearable devices.[41]

In October 2016, Lycos sold the HotBot.com domain name for $155,000.[42]

The parent company of Lycos, YBrant Digital, was renamed Brightcom Group in May 2018.[43]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Sherman, Chris (October 8, 2003). "What's In A (Search Engine's) Name?". Search Engine Watch. Archived from the original on 2015-01-03.
  2. ^ "Pittsburgh Company Established Using Lycos Internet Catalog Technology". Carnegie Mellon University. 20 June 1995.
  3. ^ Austin, Scott (August 17, 2010). "The Daily Start-Up: Buy Lycos And Save 99.7%!". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ Kawamoto, Dawn (March 6, 1998). "Lycos up as CMG looks to unload". CNET.
  5. ^ McCullough, Brian (January 26, 2015). "Chapter 4, Supplemental 9 – Lycos Founder and CEO Bob Davis". Internet History Podcast.
  6. ^ "Looking for the next business success Local native Bill Townsend planning to start a sports revolution". Observer–Reporter. June 5, 2016.
  7. ^ "Lycos IPO bodes well for Net stock". CNET. April 3, 1996.
  8. ^ "Lycos, Bertelsmann Unite in Europe". Wired. May 12, 1997.
  9. ^ Pelline, Jeff (October 8, 1997). "Yahoo buys Four11 for free email". CNET.
  10. ^ Tessler, Joelle (December 17, 1997). "Lycos Backs Forecast of Profits In Second Quarter of Fiscal 1998". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. ^ Wingfield, Nick (February 3, 1998). "Lycos Acquires Tripod In $58 Million Stock Deal". The Wall Street Journal.
  12. ^ "Lycos buys stake in e-mail partner". MarketWatch. March 26, 1998.
  13. ^ "Lycos To Buy WhoWhere". CBS News. August 11, 1998.
  14. ^ "Lycos Acquires Wired Digital". Wired. October 6, 1998.
  15. ^ Hu, Jim (October 6, 1998). "HotBot is heart of Lycos deal". CNET.
  16. ^ "Wired Buys Back HotWired and Webmonkey Too; Relaunches Latter". CBS News. May 19, 2008.
  17. ^ "Lycos' alleged traffic growth raises eyebrows". Forbes. April 22, 1999.
  18. ^ Armstrong, David (January 31, 2001). "Tension at Top Threatens Outlook for Terra Lycos". The Wall Street Journal.
  19. ^ Sullivan, Danny (March 4, 2003). "Where Are They Now? Search Engines We've Known & Loved". Search Engine Watch.
  20. ^ "Lycos to acquire maker of on-line music player". The Standard-Times. August 7, 1999.
  21. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; LYCOS TO BUY STOCK QUOTE SERVICE FOR ITS WEB SITE". The New York Times. Associated Press. September 9, 1999.
  22. ^ "Lycos Acquires Gamesville.com". Wired. Reuters. November 30, 1999.
  23. ^ "Lycos Asia goes live in Singapore". MarketWatch. December 9, 1999.
  24. ^ "Lycos to buy Matchmaker.com for $44 million". CNET. June 26, 2000.
  25. ^ "Avalanche LLC (Date.com) Acquires Matchmaker.com". February 27, 2006.
  26. ^ "E-Business Solutions Advance With Microsoft, Intel and Lycos" (Press release). Microsoft. July 27, 2000.
  27. ^ Kleinbard, David (May 16, 2000). "Lycos in $12.5B deal". CNN.
  28. ^ "Terra Lycos Buys Raging Bull". Los Angeles Times. January 31, 2001.
  29. ^ "TERRA LYCOS ACQUIRES GETRELEVANT". United Press International. October 8, 2002.
  30. ^ "Terra Lycos sells Lycos to Daum for $105 million". InfoWorld. August 2, 2004.
  31. ^ Schwankert, Steven (July 12, 2006). "Lycos sells Wired News". InfoWorld.
  32. ^ Madway, Gabriel (February 1, 2006). "Interactive Data agrees to buy Quote.com from Lycos for $30M". MarketWatch.
  33. ^ "Lycos, Jajah Launch Internet Phone Call Services Today". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. March 27, 2006.
  34. ^ BYLUND, ANDERS (November 13, 2006). "Lycos Cinema ties chat to movies; content library, technical details disappoint". Ars Technica.
  35. ^ Lowensohn, Josh (February 8, 2007). "Lycos Mix fails to stir". CNET.
  36. ^ "Ybrant Digital Buys Lycos for $36 Million" (Press release). PR Newswire. August 16, 2010.
  37. ^ "Ybrant Buys Lycos for $36 Million" (Press release). Business Wire. August 16, 2010.
  38. ^ Reisinger, Don (August 16, 2010). "Lycos is alive, acquired for $36 million". CNET.
  39. ^ "Daum Global Holdings Corp. v. Ybrant Digital Limited et al". pacermonitor.com. May 8, 2018.
  40. ^ Reidy, Chris (May 7, 2012). "Rob Balazy appointed CEO of Lycos". The Boston Globe.
  41. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (June 4, 2015). "The web portal Lycos is releasing a smart band and smart ring". The Verge.
  42. ^ Allemann, Andrew (October 4, 2016). "Lycos sells HotBot.com for $155,000". Domain Name Wire.
  43. ^ "Lycos rechristened Brightcom". Business Line. 11 May 2018.
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