USA Networks Inc., parent of the Home Shopping Network, will buy Lycos Inc., the Internet search service, in a stock deal. The agreement will merge Lycos with HSN and other USA units, including its Ticketmaster business.
The new company will be called USA/Lycos Interactive Networks Inc. USA will control 61.5%, Lycos shareholders will hold 30% and Ticketmaster holders 8.5%.
Barry Diller, chairman and CEO of USA, will become chairman of USA/Lycos. Robert Davis, president and CEO of Lycos, will become president and CEO of the new company.
USA/Lycos will have at its inception, on an historical pro forma basis, combined revenue of more than $1.5 billion. It will also have the capacity to reach 70 million television homes, take more than 1 million transactional phone calls and ship more than 200,000 units each day.
The merger is the latest to combine a top Internet company with a television etwork. USA/Lycos will advertise its Web services on USA Networks’ cable-TV shows, and Lycos’ Web site will include ads for TV.
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