Lycos’ Stock Soars Amid Talk of Stake Sale
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
Stock of Internet service Lycos Inc. surged Friday on rumors that it is in talks to sell a sizable stake of itself to NBC, a unit of General Electric Co. One source familiar with the talks told The Times that the Waltham, Mass.-based Internet portal is considering selling a 25% to 30% stake to NBC. Officials at Lycos and NBC declined to comment. Lycos is second only to Yahoo in popularity as a gateway to the Internet, and the two companies are the last portals to remain independent. NBC, in addition to its broadcast network, already owns a stake in the fledgling portal Snap. In one possible scenario, Snap would be rolled into Lycos. A deal could be announced within weeks, sources said. Lycos shares rose $7.63 to close at $137 on Nasdaq.
