Lycos Europe was founded in May 1997 as a joint venture between Lycos Inc., USA, and Bertelsmann AG, Germany. In January 2000, in advance of its listing on the stock exchange, Lycos Europe N.V. was established in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
On October 23rd, 2000, Lycos Europe successfully completed the acquisition of Spray Network.
The acquisition of MultiMania, the leading French Internet community was announced on November 1st, 2000. Through the acquisition of MultiMania, Lycos Europe positioned itself as No. 5 in the French market with 1 billion page views and a reach of 39%.
On January 15th, 2001, Lycos Europe announced the acquisition of the Munich-based technology company IBO, Internet Business Opportunities GmbH, which operates the shopping platform Pangora. Through this acquisition, Lycos Europe enhanced its e-commerce activities and can now offer its users access to one of the most extensive product databases on the Internet with more than 2.5 million products listed.
Through its close relationship to principal shareholders Terra Lycos (former Lycos, Inc.) and Bertelsmann, Lycos Europe receive strong backing in media content and Internet technology and are thus able to launch new services for Internet users quickly and effectively. |