quote.bloomberg.com.
USA Networks to Swap Home Shopping for Lycos, Reports Say
Framingham, Massachusetts, Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) - USA Networks Inc. has agreed to swap its home-shopping operations to buy Lycos Inc., creating a company valued at $18 billion that will sell goods over the Internet, the New York Times and CNet reported, citing unidentified people close to the transaction. The agreement, to be announced tomorrow, calls for Lycos to acquire the part of Ticketmaster/Citysearch that USA doesn't own for 8.5 percent of the shares of the combined company, which will be called USA Lycos. USA will control the new company, with Lycos trading a 61.5 percent interest in exchange for control of the Home Shopping Network, ISN First Auction and USA's stake in Ticketmaster, the paper said.
Reuters reported last week that Lycos was in ''serious'' talks to sell a stake of 25 percent to 30 percent to General Electric Co.'s NBC. (NYT, 2/8, www.nytimes.com; CNET, 2/8, www.news.com) *--All citations refer to the New York Times and CNet
NYSE/AMEX delayed 20 min. NASDAQ delayed 15 min.
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