Lycos restructures, cuts U.S. staff
Last modified: February 11, 2004, 3:22 PM PST
By Stefanie Olsen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
news.com.com
Web portal Lycos laid off about 20 percent of its U.S. staff Wednesday, as it restructured its business.
As previously reported, the company began advertising space for lease at its Mountain View, Calif., office last week, a sign of imminent cutbacks.
Lycos, a division of Spanish Internet conglomerate Terra Lycos, will streamline its business to focus on subscription services, such as its personals site Matchmaker. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., will outsource U.S. advertising sales to 24/7 Real Media, it said.
"Lycos will transition from a generic portal business to a tight network of interconnected vertical sites focused on personal connections," according to the company.
As a result, Lycos laid off about 90 people in the United States, according to a company representative. Sources inside the company said many members of its U.S. ad sales team were laid off Monday, along with the engineering and Webmonkey staff in San Francisco; employees of financial services site Quote.com and others in the Mountain View offices; and most of the staff in the New York office. Employees at Wired News were not affected by the layoffs.
A company representative said it will close its Mountain View offices. Some employees, such as those with Quote.com, were given relocation offers.
The company plans to relaunch its home page, emphasizing its "connections" services, including personals, Web logging and Lycos' search tools. It also plans to introduce new online social-networking services.
The corporate changes come about a year after Lycos trimmed 147 people from its U.S. operations. The company cut another 90 positions in 2003, leaving it with about 417 employees.
Lycos has been further tightening its belt lately. This month, it closed its collection of community sites, including chat, message boards and clubs, in an effort to refocus its business. The company owns search technology HotBot, home page builder Angelfire and Tripod, its blogging site.
Traffic to Lycos' Web network has dropped in the past year. From October 2002 to December 2003, the number of visitors to the network dipped from about 35 million to 32 million, according to market researcher Nielsen/NetRatings.
Along with other companies, Lycos has been hit by a decline in online advertising spending since the dot-com bust. Among other things, German media giant Bertelsmann renegotiated $675 million in advertising with Barcelona-based Terra Lycos, which subsequently reorganized. And in late 2002, Terra Lycos' former head of U.S. operations, Stephen Killeen, left the company.
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Lycos offers office space for lease
Last modified: February 8, 2004, 9:29 AM PST
By Stefanie Olsen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
news.com.com
Web portal Lycos is offering for lease space at its Northern California offices in what could be a sign of further cost-cutting at the company.
Lycos, a division of Spanish Internet conglomerate Terra Lycos, is advertising available space at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to a for-lease sign posted at the 850 N. Shoreline Blvd. location. Lycos plans to continue occupying half the space and is seeking to rent out the other half, or 15,000 square feet, according to Cornish & Carey Commercial, the company's real estate agent.
Brian Payea, a Lycos representative, would not confirm or deny that the office was for lease, nor whether staff would be relocated or laid off. "I can't comment on plans that are not ready to be announced," Payea said.
Staff at the office who asked not to be identified said they are bracing for layoffs and possible relocation offers, although no announcement has yet been made. About 60 employees occupy the Mountain View office.
The for-lease sign comes about a year after Lycos trimmed 147 people from its U.S. operations. Headcount fell by another 90 positions through 2003, leaving the company with about 417 employees, company officials said.
Lycos has been belt-tightening lately. This month, it closed its collection of community sites, including chat, message boards and clubs, in an effort to refocus its business. The company owns search technology HotBot, home page builders Angelfire and Tripod, its blogging site, and online personals site Matchmaker.
Traffic to Lycos' Web network has also dropped in the past year. From October 2002 to December 2003, the number of unique visitors to the network dipped from about 35 million to 32 million, according to market researcher Nielsen NetRatings.
Along with other companies, Lycos has been hit by a decline in online advertising spending. Among other things, German media giant Bertelsmann renegotiated $675 million in advertising with Terra Lycos, and the Barcelona-based company subsequently reorganized. In late 2002, Terra Lycos' former head of U.S. operations, Stephen Killeen, left the company. |
