Internet navigation pioneer Lycos has announced its plans to acquire Tripod Inc. for $US58 million in stock, trumpeting what it calls "a new generation online service," emphasising the young, fresh approach that both bring to cyberspace.
Even stripping away the hype, the combination could be a formidable presence for the 18- to 34-year-old Internet surfing crowd. The sites are two of the top 10 most visited on the World Wide Web with the number of visitors rising over the past three months.
"We had been working toward a younger demographic. These guys bring a tremendous influx of 20-somethings," Jan Horsfall, Lycos vice president of marketing said of Tripod in an interview.
Lycos started as a search engine and in recent months has grown into a navigation and community network, offering e-mail and chat. Tripod, which has almost 1 million members, also has e-mail and chat but is perhaps more well known for its homepage publishing service and topical content "zones."
As of this morning, the home pages for Lycos and Tripod included links to the press release about the acquisition announcement and other details about both companies.
"You're going to see a ton of integration between the two sites," Horsfall said, adding that already the companies are working on integrating about two dozen areas on their sites and "we've just started."
Tripod will continue to operate under its own name and at its Williamstown, Massachusetts, headquarters. Horsfall said that right now it appears all 55 Tripod employees will be staying on. Lycos, with 160 employees, is based in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Lycos can be reached at http://www.lycos.com/. Tripod can be reached at http://www.tripod.com/.