February 11, 2004

Lycos said over time it will phase out its generic media portal business and focus instead on subscription offerings such as online dating services and Web site publishing.

Spanish-American online media firm Terra Lycos said on Wednesday its Lycos Web portal business will shift to a subscription-based service from a generalist online outlet in order to boost revenues.

The restructuring is expected to result in job cuts of up to 20 percent, the company said. Lycos said it has a staff of 418 in the United States, where the cuts and restructuring will take place.

The money-losing Terra Lycos has been hit particularly hard by the downturn in the online advertising market that followed the 2000 implosion of the dot-com bubble.

The company's strategy to convert visitors to its site into paying customers has begun to pay off for a variety of Internet firms who once relied entirely on advertising.

Terra Lycos is 72 percent-owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica.

Source: Yahoo News

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