Synge-Lycos Deal to Be Announced

A deal to be announced today between 8-month-old Costa Mesa online magazine Synge and Internet search engine Lycos Inc. brings together two key elements to success on the Web: packaging and reach.

In the nonexclusive deal, the two will share banner advertising revenue generated on the co-branded site. Lycos gets “saucy, fun and informative” content at no cost, according to Synge executives, and fledgling Synge gets some brand-building.

Synge currently has 15 employees, six of them developing the editorial content. The company hopes to expand to 30 editorial employees by the end of the year and develop an electronic commerce area on the site, said Garry Wang, chief executive of Synge.

“The first phase of Synge.com is to build a content backbone and establish the tone and style. The next step is to create a site that goes beyond the content,” Wang said.