In a bid to expand its online activities, New York City-based USA Networks, headed by Barry Diller, agreed to buy No.3 Internet portal Waltham, MA-based Lycos, Inc. Lycos will immediately be combined with USA’s home shopping, ticketing, and online businesses. The deal should expand USA Networks’ direct consumer sales business from television to the Internet, while giving Lycos a media partner better able to compete against larger Web rivals.
Financial terms weren’t released, and USA and Lycos company officials were not available for comment.
Lycos had been talking with a number of companies including CBS Inc., Viacom Inc., News Corp., and Walt Disney Co’s ABC subsidiary, a Time Warner official said. Lycos president Bob Davis had for week ducked inquiries by saying that Lycos has “conducted hundreds of discussions and consummated dozens of relationships with companies across a broad spectrum.”
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