Lycos Sold To South Korean Company

maggeth writes "Terra Networks has finally decided to dump its struggling web portal, Lycos, to the South Korean-based Daum Communications Corp. Terra bought Lycos for $12.5 billion and they managed to sell if for $105 million. More details at the story on eWeek."

Comments

South Koreans love Starcraft sooo much

[Anonymous Coward]

Terra Lycos is being named Terran Lycos, and they're trying to get the Korean word for Google changed to Protoss.

Does this mean

[Anonymous Coward]

that the little black lab they use to "fetch" things is going to become dinner?

Worth it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, the dot com boom was something eh. $12 billion? And now they sold it at $105 million, I wonder how much they lost.

Re:Worth it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Err, what's left to wonder?

Re:Worth it?

[TeraCo]

Well.. my guess is 11.895 billion.

Re:Worth it?

[Avada Kedavra]

Weren't all of Intel's '90's dotcom investments failures too?

Re:Worth it?

[jebiester]

Actually, it would be more than that - since they seem to have been running at a loss for a while. According to their report they did become profitable late last year though. Maybe revise that estimate to over 11.9 billion.

There's a finacial report here.

Re:Worth it?

[triso]

Weren't all of Intel's '90's dotcom investments failures too?

No! I don't think Intel invested much into the services area -- where most of the amazing failures were. They seem to invest in companies that build on their own technologies. See for details.

Re:Worth it?

[Anonymous Coward]

How much they lost? Do the math! They lost well over 99% of 12.5 billion! Any enthusiastic shareholders around...?

Korea? Great.

[Anonymous Coward]

Guess you'll have to log in as user "test" or "guest"

So is this method not working?

[chill]

1. Make oodles of faux cash in the Internet Bubble
2. Blow an obscene amount buying an overhyped buzzword (portal)
3. ??
4. Profit! Not!

Re:So is this method not working?

[nomadic]

Considering someone sold it for 12 billion, I can assure you that somewhere a very nice profit was made.

Re:So is this method not working?

[JPelorat]

4. !Profit

Re:So is this method not working?

[Ansonmont]

That would be Bob Davis. He is still a very rich man because of it.

Now you know why the bubble burst

[bigberk]

If someone actually thought that Lycos was worth $12.5 billion, you have a pretty good idea how messed up people were in the 90s, and why the bubble burst. A bunch of 'companies' creating no products, acting as nothing more than advertising and marketing information hubs, fooled millions of investors. Bravo, you sirs were truly kings.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[rffmna]

Speculation.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

Like all the stoopids who tried to sell Free Software. Fucking stoopids!

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[weiyuent]

If someone actually thought that Lycos was worth $12.5 billion, you have a pretty good idea how messed up people were in the 90s, and why the bubble burst.

Thing is though, everything else was massively inflated too. Terra Networks bought Lycos in 2000, in an all stock deal. So really, the $12.5 billion is just paper value. Who knows how much hard cash was actually burned -- not insubstantial but certainly much less than $12 billion.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[saden1]

What is Google really worth? And will it be worth what it is worth today 5 years from now. Wall Street should be called Speculation Street. You win some, you lose some. Google is flying high now but no one can guarantee it will continue to.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

The article doesn't go into details, but I highly doubt that $12.5B of real money was involved. I would imagine that the deal was done with the dot.com version of Monopoly(tm) money, swapping inflated stock. The stock transferred by the companies might have had an astronomical "market value", but if they had actually tried to sell the stock on the open market to convert it to cash, the value would have nosedived. All of this "market value" would have been generated by a handful of fools buying a tiny fraction of the total stock at outrageous prices; the $billions may never have existed in any real form.

Thus, the main value of such stock is to trade for other equally inflated stock, just like the main value of a $500 Monopoly bill is for buying little fake plastic hotels.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[macosxaddict]

"Worth" is simply the amount people are willing to pay for something at a particular point in time. If someone paid, or offered to pay, $12.5 billion for Lycos at a particular point in time, then it was really worth that much to the person who made the offer. Unless, of course, he/she is irrational...but then, how many irrational people (or organizations) have that much money?

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[wizzardme2000]

Let me think for a moment on that one... Oh! I know! MICROSOFT!

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[macosxaddict]

To pre-empt the obvious retort: no, Microsoft is not irrational. Stupid, corrupt, evil, etc. may all apply, but they do what they do for reasons that they think are valid.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[wizzardme2000]

An irrational person believes their reasions to be rational.

It's just like trying to decide weather you are insane... you never can really know for sure. Except in my case. I know myself to be insane.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[martinX]

Yes, but there's Speculation Street and then there's OMG!!!!! SPECULATION STREET!!!!!!!!

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[killjoe]

Let's all guess at what will happen to the CEO of a company that bought a company for 12.5 billion and sold it for 105 million.

a) He will be fired immediately and will lose all of his "golden parachute" benefits.
b) He will be demoted and will get a cut in pay.
c) He will be administratively punished perhaps by receiving a bad review from his board. It will go on his permanment record.
d) He will receive a bonus worth tens of millions of dollars, he will remain a CEO for a little while longer then he will quit and move on to another company where he will do it again.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Dr. Bent]

What is Google really worth? And will it be worth what it is worth today 5 years from now.

Considering Google made $256 million on $1.6 billion in revenue last year, I say they were worth a pretty penny. I don't know about the $20-30 billion numbers that are floating around, but I could see paying $12 billion for Google.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[timeOday]

Wall Street should be called Speculation Street. You win some, you lose some.

So what's the take home lesson here? Don't buy stock that will go down? Why didn't I think of that.

It's easy to say "don't take a risk, just keep slaving away in your cube for that guaranteed $55K/year," especially after a company crashes and burns. But to escape the treadmill you must place your bets at some point. So how do you do that shrewdly? If you wait until it's a "sure thing," it's surely too late.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

how many irrational people (or organizations) have that much money?

Larry Ellison?

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

e) Cowboy Neal!

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

'companies' creating no products, acting as nothing more than advertising and marketing information hubs, fooled millions of investors.

You mean like Google?

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Technician]

Some investors were thinking Lyco was the beginning of Google as a portal. Unfortunately for Lycos, they aimed for advertisers dollars instead of providing consumer satisafaction. They lost the consumers as Google showed them how it's done. Even while Google was growing and passing Yahoo and AOL, Lycos didn't get a clue and thought more and bigger ads = more revenue. They missed the important step of obtaining market share. Oops!

On another note, I wonder if MS is going to be too overloaded and advertisement heavy in their new search engine. Are they going to take a page from Google? Are they going to try to embrace and extend IE to lock in users to the MS search? Will such a miss-step drive more users to vendor agnostic browsers other than IE?

It'll be fun to watch the MS attempt. Somehow I see it being driven by the same playbook as the X-box. A big money sink the first few years to get it linked into everything and then the advertising and paid content kicks in (tied to MS version of i-Tunes for example).

I see the web being diveded into the MS stuff and the rest of the WWW much like AOL and the Internet. MS will index partners and Google will index the rest of the web including all the good indie, OSS, and counter-culture stuff.

Win 98 lite will probably not show up in a MS search for windows speed enhancements.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[XemonerdX]

No, not like Google, Google has the Google toolbar.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

But to escape the treadmill you must place your bets at some point. So how do you do that shrewdly?


The stockmarket is the world's biggest poker game, if you're at the table and you can't spot the sucker ... guess what?

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[metalhed77]

IIRC Terra also paid 60 million for the now extremely defunct sonique media player. Yes, 60 million for a skinnable MP3 player.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Deviate_X]

Google is a very innovative and interesting company. But as soon as Terra purchased Lycos they got rid of most of the interesting and an innovative people. The point is that at time of merger Lycos was could have been successful if the new owners had had the right kind of imagination. As an example the original team for Sonique vanished after the merger...

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

> A bunch of 'companies' creating no products, acting as nothing more than advertising and marketing information hubs, fooled millions of investors

Sounds like YHOO, but they have a market cap of 40B now.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[PsiPsiStar]

Speaking as someone who as purchased targeted hits on both Overture (MS run) and google, Overture has a much better ROI. Google farms out hits to other search engines, who can make more money by paying people to click on google's links.

Google is making money now, but it's vulnerable.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

I know myself to be insane.

That's a sure sign that you still have a good grounding in reality and a sense of humour -- in other words, your comment shows that you are quite sane.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Telcontar]

Today things are different. Today's stock is less inflated. Investors play with the de Luxe edition of Monopoly! Which means you can buy little fake wooden hotels, which are clearly worth more than plastic ones.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[TheSync]

I'll argue that Google serves advertisers better than Lycos ever did, by having better targetting to audiences, easier to purchase small amounts of advertising, etc.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Technician]

I know, There was a big write-up on bogus Google clicks, either to raise one's page rank, or to suck up a competitor's advertising budget. It has it's problems, but for the end user, it's useful, and for the advertiser, it's where the eyeballs are. Simply put, If you are looking for a bit of information such as a videogame hack or IC pinout, where is the first place you do a search? For most people, it's Google. Google can't become lazy. They can make the mistake of stagnation (like IBM did).

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[networkBoy]

[...]to escape the treadmill you must place your bets at some point. So how do you do that shrewdly? If you wait until it's a "sure thing," it's surely too late.


Over a reasonable ammount of time (I seem to remember 10 years as the magic number) the market average will return 11 percent or better. The 11% is worst case and accounts for the great depression, normalized averages are closer to 14%. The lesson thus is not to bet on a single stock (unless you want to bet) but rather to invest wisely in diversified funds which match your tolerance for risk.
That's what I've done and though I'm poor right now I've got no worries about my retirement. -nB

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

So what's the take home lesson here? Don't buy stock that will go down? Why didn't I think of that.

It's easy to say "don't take a risk, just keep slaving away in your cube for that guaranteed $55K/year," especially after a company crashes and burns. But to escape the treadmill you must place your bets at some point. So how do you do that shrewdly? If you wait until it's a "sure thing," it's surely too late.

Who in the hell are you talking to? Nobody said anything about not playing Wall Street. "Shit Happens" != "Stop playing Wall Street"

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[StalinsNotDead]

That's not necessarily the case. It all depends on the definition of insanity. A voice-hearing schizophrenic can realize the voices for what they are, hallucinations. If he also realizes that most people do not hear these things, and he only does because of a fault in the brain, then he can know he is insane.

Besides, the grand-parent could have been diagnosed with something, still be affected by its symptoms, but accepted the diagnosis. Thereby, affording him the opportunity to both be insane, and know it.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[macdaddy]

Welll.... actually the S&P 500 Index has averaged 11% over the last 20 years or so. The market as a whole has done a helluva lot better in the long-term. If you want a safe investment the no-load index funds that are based on the S&P 500 like the Vanguard 500 and the USAA S&P 500 are a good choice. Another good choice are index funds based on the S&P 400 MidCap Index like the . The funds based on the Russell 2000 Index are also a good buy ( Vanguard SmallCap Index).

Even among index funds you should have some diversity such as 50% SmallCap and 50% S&P 500. You can see the average returns for youself in this handy table. Make sure you pick a fund with a low expense ratio. Definitely diversify though. And don't plan on striking it rich. Plan on investing for the long-term. After your feet are thoroughly wet you might find an opportunity for a small purchase of Company X that you feel will do well. Beyond that though invest safely.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[macdaddy]

I've been investing for a short time now and have done pretty well. I tend to stick with companies I know and have an understanding of their products. One thing I've had great luck with and have found to be highly recommended is buying when stock prices plummet for one reason or another. Take for example a couple weeks ago when Redhat announced they were restate their audited financial statements for 02-04. They really weren't changing anything but investors freaked nonetheless. RHAT stock dropped 25% from 21 to 15 per share overnight. I bought the next day at $15.51. Or take for example Apple at the end of June announcing a slight delay in the debute of the new iMac. The investors freaked again and the price dropped from 33.5 to 29 in a week or so. I bought shares too early at $30.50, again a few days later at $30.25 and a week later at $29.50. With the exception of today Apple stock has been doing good. Come September I expect to be sitting pretty. :-) I'm a strong believer in buying stock in good companies when the other investors freak and drive the price down. It's worked well for me. Pick a 4 or 5 dozen companies you know well and watch their stock. Keep cash at the ready to invest if the price drops to something too good to pass up.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[WuphonsReach]

So what's the take home lesson here? Don't buy stock that will go down? Why didn't I think of that.

The lesson is called "dollar cost averaging". Which means that you put the same dollar amount into a range of stocks/funds once per month or once per week. Sometimes you'll buy low and make out well, other times you'll buy high and not do so well. But over the long run it all averages out and you'll make decent returns.

It also removes the emotional aspect from investing. No jumping on "hot" stocks because you got swayed or staying in a "dying" stock due to an irrational belief that it's about to turn the corner.

Re:Now you know why the bubble burst

[Anonymous Coward]

The lesson thus is not to bet on a single stock (unless you want to bet) but rather to invest wisely in diversified funds which match your tolerance for risk.

And you need to do steady investing where you put X away every month.

Lycos (-1 redundant)

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't even remember when's the last time I went to that site (if I ever did).

What a Bargain

[wayward]

I just took a look at the Lycos website. Loud ads AND search functionality for a mere $105 million? What a steal!

Re:What a Bargain

[jcasey]

"Loud ads AND search functionality for a mere $105 million? What a steal!"

Dont forget, you also get the infamous "SideSearch" parasite. No installation necessary!

Re:What a Bargain

[wayward]

Now that could be lucrative. They could have popup ads selling a product to make "SideSearch" go away, and that's where the real money could be made.

Re:What a Bargain

[drwelts]

The last time I even got near Lycos was a few weeks ago when I had to clean an obnoxious search program that Lycos had surreptitiously installed on several of my users machines. From portal to bloatware installer. What a bargain indeed...

anyone else think...

[Anonymous Coward]

...starcraft

Re:anyone else think...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you know?

Daum Communications made most of their profit from establishing the backbone of the biggest Starcraft gaming network in Korea!

So...

[lingqi]

Lycos owns Wired and Webmonkey and a slew of other actually really cool stuff right...
I even vaguely remember monster.com being part of their network.

Lycos portal I don't care, what happens to these?

Re:So...

[Atmchicago]

Before google came around, I used hotbot as my search engine. I remember at some point it switched to being http://www.hotbot.lycos.com. Now, it no longer switches you to hotbot.lycos.com, but both still work. Is this related?

Re:So...

[XemonerdX]

Straight from the front-page of hotbot.com:
© Copyright 2004, Lycos, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Funnily enough hotbot gives the option to search using the HotBot, Google and Ask Jeeves search engines.

Re:So...

[jasonla]

Wired carried a much more detailed story about the purchase.

http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64431,00.htm l?tw=wn_tophead_9

Will be be seeing wired in Korean next? Christ NNNNNOOOOOOOO!

Re:So...

[gabebear]

Wait, I'm still confused, did the deal include wired.com? It doesn't seem to, but the top of the article at wired.com you link to has the lycos network crap at the top of it.

I can't seem to find a straight answer

Re:So...

[XemonerdX]

Read paragraph 2 of yer linked article:
In a move that emphasizes the growing global ambitions of South Korean technology companies, Daum said on Monday it will pay 111.2 billion won for 100 percent of Lycos, which Terra bought in an all-stock deal in May 2000. (Wired News is owned by Lycos.)

Re:So...

[jasonla]

There doesn't seem to be a straight answer from anyone. I've emailed the Wired staff, and I await their answer. My guess is, no one really knows until the deal is finalized.

Re:So...

[bobetov]

As an employee of Monster.com, I can tell you that ain't so. Monster is a huge company, with things like the largest yellow-pages directory service, military personnel support svcs, you name it. Even my little branch of Tickle.com. :-)

Re:So...

[dmehus]

The Terra Lycos banner will appear on all Lycos Inc. sites until the transaction is complete, expected by September 2nd or 3rd at the latest.

Yes, Daum will own both the Wired magazine and Wired News site. :)

The sites Daum buys include (not going to bother to provide links as I'm too lazy to type all the extra code):

Angelfire, Gamesville, HotBot, Hotwired (including Animation Express and Webmonkey), HTML Gear, Lycos.com, Lycos Zone, Matchmaker, Quote.com, Raging Bull, Sonique, Tripod, Who Where, Wired, and Wired News.

Terra Networks retains the following properties:

A Tu Hora, Invertia.com, Rumbo.com, Terra.com, and its stake in Lycos Europe

Cheers,
Doug

Re:So...

[jasonla]

I have received two replies from Wired News staffers, regarding my email. They confirm that Wired News, as part of Lycos, was sold to Daum.

No one, including the staff, knows what will happen to Wired News as it is too early to tell, both staffers said. One staffer said there had been talks of splitting Lycos's various entities and selling them individually, but the idea was dropped.

The staffer also pointed out an interesting difference between the Wired News website and Wired printed magazine. The magazine is owned by Conde Nast and is not part of Wired News. Lycos owns the website and publishes articles from the magazine through a deal the two forged a few years ago.

Re:So...

[Anonymous Coward]

Daum did not buy Wired Magazine in the Lycos deal. Wired Magazine is owned by Conde Nast. Wired News is owned by Lycos. Wired News publishes the content from Wired Magazine on its web site, but news stories from the web site do not go into the print magazine.

The Daum purchase of Lycos, therefore, does not affect Wired Magazine. It affects only Wired News. It would affect Wired Magazine only if Daum makes changes to the Wired News web site that somehow have an impact on how the print magazine content is handled online.

Re:So...

[Anonymous Coward]

just shamelessly plugging your own site in a completely meaningless post? Good job man.

ripped off!

[weighn]

maybe there are other assets not mentioned in this story, but $105 mill for a slice of Lycos?!

Speaking of ripped off, why does the design of Daum's logo look strangely familiar?

Re:ripped off!

[cujo_1111]

Good point.

Is there something wrong with Google that when you do a search for 'ebay logo' in their Image Search, you get a Harley Davidson logo at number 3 and a stuffed animal at number 5?

Re:ripped off!

[lothar97]

Take a look in the URL for the image, and you'll see how Google does their ranking. They don't analyze the picture, they do keywords. For example, the URL for the stuffed bear is "rooth.org/check/ ebay/logo.jpg"

Re:ripped off!

[super awesome]

it does look familiar. I think the Daum logo looks better. Maybe for a +1 Interesting, the pronunciation of Daum is Dah-eum. Not damn or dayam.

Re:ripped off!

[cujo_1111]

So if I had two images both named the same but one was at http://www.ebay.com/auction/ebay.gif and http://www.auction.com/ebay/ebay.gif, which would be listed first?

Shouldn't the domain have precedence?

Re:ripped off!

[Zebbers]

oh yes....they use different colors and sized letters to make a logo.

jesus christ....it's a worldwide economy, worldwide network....limited colors and designs....this color is mine has got to stop. Unless there is real room for confusion who gives a shit.

Re:ripped off!

[jhpark77]

yes Dah-eum.. it means 'next' in Korean. I think they are trying to expand their locally successful Internet business to worldwide market.. IMHO, the first thing they do to lycos will be upgrading gamesville.com and maybe introducing yahoogroups styled community site.. they have been so successful in Korea and it will be interesting to see how they will so in worldwide market. I wouldn't be surprised if they compete head-to-head against MSN and yahoo in 2-3 years..

Nothing

[Anonymous Coward]

They weren't sold

How I truly feel

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, it hurts. For the last week I've just been hanging out, not doing much. I feel like my mind is crying, wanting to express its feelings, yet no one is there to hear them.

I suppose there comes a time in everyone's life when they realize the extent of their worthlessness. For me, that time was not long ago. Washing over me like a wave of negativity, my apathetic existence revealing my true character. It is not the world around me that is flawed. I am what is truly meaningless.

There is a reason why I have no friends. There is a reason why my relationships never last. My emotional disconnect from the world around me drives others away. Unable to connect with me, and understand my true feelings, they come to regard me as a non-entity. And over time I come to live as a shadow, invisible to those around me, a ghost without purpose, wandering this realm scared and alone.

I remember when I was young, maybe like four, and I was masturbating in the bathroom. I was unable to achieve orgasm at the time of course but I was always interested in my sexuality. I would see girls at school and fantasize about them. There was one girl called Mindy who was very cute and we would talk and stuff. But one thing always held me back, something I did not fully understand, yet I still knew was wrong.

My circumsized penis. Even at a young age, I felt a severe sense of loss and devastation at the mutilation of my penis. My most private area forever scarred against my will. I always knew that something was wrong with my dick, and as I grew older I learned the awful truth. I have never really recovered from this. My mind still remains haunted by the remembrances of my young mind, coming to terms with the extent of the mutilation that had been done to me.

I don't feel I have ever been able to relate to others. When I meet girls, and they touch me, I always feel myself pulling away, recoiling, afraid. I think deep down, I am afraid of what further harm they may come to visit on my penis. Their supple breasts and smooth skin provide no consolation; although my mind calls out, wanting them to hold me, love me, and tell me it is ok, my body shrinks away, and I fall once again into the depths of despair and helplessness.

I really wish they would have just made me a girl. I would have been so much happier in life as a female. At the very least, I would not have this gloom enshrouding me, forever reminding me of the mutilation and desecration of my infancy. My only real joy comes from those times when I dress and act as a female. I feel so much more alive, like I am the person I was meant to be. I just wish people were more accepting of the transgendered.

I think what really bothers me the most, is my penis. Every time I see it, I am reminded of that horrific event of my youth. I can't even look at it anymore, it simply causes me too much pain.

I just want to turn this scarred genitalia into a beautiful vagina. I want to be able to masturbate without my dick getting in the way. I want to be able to walk with my head held high, not weighed down by my apprehensions and fears, and be able to live as I have always wanted.

I don't want to be afraid anymore. I don't want to feel this guilt and sorrow anymore. I just want it to end. I want to live as a girl. Just like I was meant to be.

Re:How I truly feel

[Anonymous Coward]

It's true. Male genital mutilation is one of the most barbaric practices of the western world.

Damn barbarians chopping up their own cocks.

Re:How I truly feel

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on over and I'll fist you. You'll feel better, I promise.

And if not, I'll fist you again and see how that does.

Re:How I truly feel

[Anonymous Coward]

You are beautiful, no matter what they say. Circumcision can't bring you down.

It's okay

[Anonymous Coward]

The Slashdot 503's will probably be fixed someday, and then you'll feel better.

New variant of an old joke.

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you make a small fortune out of the dot com boom?

Start with a large one.

Re:New variant of an old joke.

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the old variant?

Re:New variant of an old joke.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I know of one dating back to 1993. No doubt there are others, going back further.

Re:New variant of an old joke.

[vidarh]

A quote often attributed to Richard Branson is perhaps the best known variation. I don't know if it's true, but supposedly he was once asked how to become a millionaire and replied something along the lines of "begin as a billionaire and start an airline". Given the amounts he lost on Virgin Atlantic in the beginning it's a fairly plausible quote...

RTFA

[Anonymous Coward]

Lycos owns Wired and Webmonkey and a slew of other actually really cool stuff right...
I even vaguely remember monster.com being part of their network.

Lycos portal I don't care, what happens to these?


Read the fine article.

Terra is that strong?

[usefool]

I must say if a company can lose more than $10 billion and still alive and kicking, it's actually not doing too badly.

Re:Terra is that strong?

[lothar97]

I imagine most of the "loss" was in intangible assets, such as brandnames, goodwill, etc. To buy Lycos, Inc., Terra just printed $12.5 billion in stock certificates (see this article), which made the then stockholders of Lycos (valued in 2000 at $70ish per share) significantly happy. Terra is owned by Telifonica, which is the national phone company of Spain.

Re:Terra is that strong?

[El]

Bill Gates lost $45 Billion, and he's still alive and kicking... paper profits/losses don't really count.

Why why why

[Anonymous Coward]

why why

... did somebody pay 12 billion for LYCOS???

Re:Why why why

[XemonerdX]

Becuz it made sense (to Terra). Terra wanted to fight its way into the English-speaking web portal market (being already one of the top players in the Spanish-speaking one) and Lycos was one of the decently big enough players that was also willing to be bought up.

I should have been a stock broker...

[isd_glory]

Hm... $12.5 billion can buy about 925 million 12-packs of bottled Guinness Draught. At the 5 cent per bottle recycling rate in NY state, that would net about $555 million.

The moral of the story: beer is always a safer investment than struggling dotcoms.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[Anonymous Coward]

"In volitile market, only stable investment is... PORN!"

Avenue Q

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[PabloJones]

It would be an even smarter investment to, say, buy 12-packs of High Life instead. What are they, like $7 or so? Now we're talking over $1 billion. Even smarter would be to go to Michigan where they give you 10 cents per bottle, and you could effectively double that.

Not to mention, if that beer was distributed to the US population, each and every one of us would receive about 7 1/2 bottles of beer. Then we'd all get to live the High Life.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[wiresquire]

925 million 12 packs of beer on the wall
925 million 12 packs of beer
take one down
pass it around
924 million 9 hundred and 99 thous...

err, fuck it and pass me a beer.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[syousef]

Hm... $12.5 billion can buy about 925 million 12-packs of bottled Guinness Draught. At the 5 cent per bottle recycling rate in NY state, that would net about $555 million.

Free as in beer? *smirk* I like that thinking. Can we submit this as proof that you can make money out of a free as in beer software business?

And of course the only problem is disposing of the beer....buddy, friend, pal.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[iammaxus]

And jeez, Guinness isn't even that bad or that cheap. Imagine if they got some real crack investors on the job and bought some Budweisers...

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[Lost Dragon]

Even smarter would be to go to Michigan where they give you 10 cents per bottle, and you could effectively double that.

No, no! Don't try it man! And especially not with a postal truck....

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[PabloJones]

Maybe that's why they have a link on to a porn search directory, right there on the main page.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[Desert Raven]

each and every one of us would receive about 7 1/2 bottles of beer. Then we'd all get to live the High Life.

How would having 7-1/2 bottles of crappy beer make my life any better? It doesn't even make decent drain cleaner when I pour it down the sink.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[PabloJones]

Yeah, but look on the bright side, you're bound to meet a farmer's daughter along the way.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[Anonymous Coward]

At the 5 cent per bottle recycling rate in NY state, that would net about $555 million.

Or, you could recycle the bottles in Michigan and get 10 cents per bottle...do the math! Damn thats a lot of cash!

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[commodoresloat]

I think the point was that before you turn in the bottles for your refund, you get to drink the beer. With your solution, you have to dump out the beer to get the refund.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[DNS-and-BIND]

Guinness in a bottle? Heresy. If you're not drinking a Perfect Pint, you're not drinking Guinness.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[Idarubicin]

... 925 million 12-packs of bottled Guinness Draught... $555 million.

Half a billion dollars, and two beers for every man, woman, and child on earth...and instead they bought Lycos?

Dumbasses.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[GoofyBoy]

More realistic was that, if it was real money, at 4% they would have had $2,038,302.72 by now.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[meringuoid]

Guinness in a bottle? Heresy. If you're not drinking a Perfect Pint, you're not drinking Guinness.

It's not as bad as it was. Guinness put a whole lot of research money into getting good draught beer out of cans and bottles. You can get a very decent Guinness out of a bottle these days... although I concur that the true pint is to be had only in a pub. And may I put in a good word at this point for Matt Molloy's pub in Westport, Co Mayo? Undoubtedly the most excellent Guinness I've ever had.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[Anonymous Coward]

But you pay the DEPOSIT when you purchase the beer. Net gain is zero.

Yeah, it's a joke. But it's not funny to make shit up. Funny is when its ironic. This isn't ironic.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[StalinsNotDead]

How would having 7-1/2 bottles of crappy beer make my life any better?

Because, drunk is better, regardless of the quality of beverage that induces the drunken state.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[ahdeoz]

I've got a funny suspicion that your "Guiness" is bottled in the local Pepsico plant by employees whose tax papers are processed in St. Loius, Missouri.

Re:I should have been a stock broker...

[saabmp3]

Better yet, move to Michigan where you get 10 cents. Move -> Profit!

Gone downhill

[Anonymous Coward]

Lycos has really gone downhill apparently. They actually have the audacity to feature a "model search" (read: PORN) on their front page.

What a world we live in. What happened to the nice Lycos dog?

Re:Gone downhill

[acidrain69]

Not only that, but the only place I have seen Lycos recently is in the crappy search bar/sidebar spyware they have floating around.

Re:Gone downhill

[Tablizer]

What happened to the nice Lycos dog?

You forgot. Koreans eat dog :-P

Re:Gone downhill

[Tablizer]

And, um, here is the real story on the dog logo: http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/13471

A Dog Day For New Lycos Campaign
-- ClickZ News

By Beth Cox | November 6, 1998

Lycos Inc. which just launched a nationwide ad campaign featuring a Labrador retriever as a logo, was sued for trademark infringement by Labrador Software Inc.

You guessed it, the software company wants the Internet search directory to halt its advertising campaign that features "Lycos," the expert-fetching retriever. ....

Re:Gone downhill

[Anonymous Coward]

don't know about you, but i prefer women to dogs

Re:Gone downhill

[Graelin]

What a world we live in. What happened to the nice Lycos dog?

Well, I don't have this first hand but they say he had a nasty run in with drugs... PHP maybe... He was known to burn his Lycos shares just to try the new designer drugs.. then came the booze... and the hookers.. One day, the cops found him face down in his own vomit on the sidewalk all coked up. They put him in the slammer for 20 to life where is is now known as Spot the Bead Freak. (Don't ask...)

What a world indeed.

Re:Gone downhill

[Anonymous Coward]

What a world we live in. What happened to the nice Lycos dog?

Good question.. I thought the dog was a cute touch.

wait a minute..

OMG.. he's humping my leg!!!

Re:Gone downhill

[Anonymous Coward]

They actually have the audacity to feature a "model search" (read: PORN) on their front page.

OMG! That is so audacious!!!

Oh, wait. No it's not. It's hardly even soft-porn; plus, who cares? And why are you writing on Slashdot, mr. Powell; isn't blogging enough any more?

And as to that dog.... umh, well, let's just say "doggy style" and leave it at that.

Re:Gone downhill

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, no! Porn!

That's the problem with everyone, what the hell is so wrong with porn? I was channel surfing the other day and saw some lady on Dr. Phil that thought her four year old daughter was going to be traumatized for the rest of her life because as they were driving, they passed a minivan that had a little dropdown television in the back and they were watching porn. Then the four year olds mom had to explain "the birds and the bees" to her. Traumatized? How? I'm sure this same kid has watched the news before and saw that some "evil doers" were blowing each other up, or how someones mommy got mad at daddy and decided to off him with a 12 guage, but no, that's okay to watch.

Good God, everyone makes such a big deal over porn. It's like some ungodly sin that you will burn in hell for. Frankly, I'd rather have my daughter watching porn than doing drugs or going to stupid parties and getting drunk or other crap like that. But hey, that's just me.

Porn: The ultimate sin!

sad but inevitable

[ximor_iksivich]

Lycos was a good portal before. Over the years the service has gone pretty bad. Sad to see them go but it had to happen. I am just wondering if the personal websites will be taken off? I have one. I really don't want to back it up :( On other hand, the article doesn't say anything about lycos.co.uk and related sites. Will this affect them as well?

Re:sad but inevitable

[x3ro]

I am just wondering if the personal websites will be taken off? I have one. I really don't want to back it up

You should have a backup anyway. Is it Lycos' answer to the (cringe) geocities?

Buy Out!

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

The Slashdot 503's will probably be fixed someday, and then you'll feel better.

Maybe when Daum Communications Corp buys out "OSTG"??? Oh my!

Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[noewun]

What ROI means.

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[Anonymous Coward]

what does ROI mean?

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[templest]

urbandictionary.com Darned kids and their flippin' lingo.

Wait, nvm... It's not there. What the hell!? Well, I can make up words to you shleebing gnat!

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[Skraggy]

Most references to ROI I know of, being a "little britain" dweller, is Republic of Ireland.

Southern Ireland, or Eire.

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[Anonymous Coward]

King in some latin-based language? Can I now have some synergy with proactive out of the box thinking, please?

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[Anonymous Coward]

ROI... Ripped Off Incredibly? I think they know that version, anyway.

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[noewun]

Return On Investment.

Re:Someone needs to tell these guys. . .

[templest]

AHA! ROI = Return On Investment... I love google. :)

how long has it been?

[prof_peabody]

I remember when hotbot showed up... I thought it was the greatest. The I switched to yahoo, and finally to google. I used inktomi somewhere in there. I have no clue what I was using before hotbot... It's important to note that Terra kept about 500 million USD in profitable assets after the sale... But $12 billion... wow.

Re:how long has it been?

[cheekyboy]

they could have gone to the moon for $10biillion easily.

Re:how long has it been?

[huxrules]

how about webcrawler.... I think that pre-dated hotbot.

Re:how long has it been?

[robogun]

Over the last 10 years, I used webcrawler > altavista > dogpile and metacrawler > hotbot & other inktomi-based engines > google

Having run a website most of that time, it always puzzled me why people would usually come in thru yahoo. Before 2000 it was something like 80 %. Sure I had a listing, but half the links in their static directory were dead or mutated since the original listing in Yahoo. The same problems plague dmoz, etc. Who would use that.

Google's on the way out -- it's become a monoculture and therefore marketers focus on it. It's already useless for searching on pop culture things like actors or singers, or movies. The first 10,000 hits, (after the imdb page that google manually bumps to the top) are for dvd's cd's or posters, all affiliates, all alike, all selling the same exact disc or poster. At some point, there will officially be more stores than customers. Other search engines like alltheweb.com are better on those spam ridden searches.

Re:how long has it been?

[templest]

Oh, My, God. *Obligatory Smilie*: ^_^
It has a *gasp* audio / video search! Well, that's it... Google's dead to me.

Re:how long has it been?

[XemonerdX]

Yup, by .

Re:how long has it been?

[XemonerdX]

Meant to say:
Yup, by 2 years.

Logout

[deadmongrel]

Clear the cookie and reload the page. The error mainly occurs when you log in.

Re:Logout

[Anonymous Coward]

So, it's a plot to force us to endure the new colour schemes rather than use light mode, then.

Re:Logout

[Reziac]

Sometimes it refuses to acknowledge the new login, tho. When it happens, it'll usually affect one or two subdomains, but not all of slashdot. Very annoying. :(

Whats staying/going? Tripod? Lycos Europe?

[somebodyinthewww]

I wonder whats gonna happen to: Daum Lycos Tripod (the host with the Worlds Worst Perl / CGI Implementation) Daum Lycos Europe Daum Lycos Tripod UK/Daum Lycos UK (lycos.co.uk) - not a that bad host 50mb space, php, mysql Doesn't lycos europe have a connection to bertellesmann (or what ever their name is), the company that brought AOL to germany? Now they need to update the banner at the top of the sites to be: daum lycos network!

Re:Whats staying/going? Tripod? Lycos Europe?

[Honken]

Lycos Europe is not affected at all by this, it's an independent company controlled by Bertelsmann. Terra do own about a third of the company and is expected to sell this part as well quite soon, possibly to Bertelsmann.

I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Anonymous Coward]

rycos.com

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Achoi77]

I know it's meant to be a joke, but Koreans can pronounce their L's fine. Actually, they can have more trouble pronouncing R's. Which means that Lycos would be preferred over Rycos. Don't confuse Japanese with Korean.

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Anonymous Coward]

actually, there's been a linguistic trend in almost every language that changes the amount of effort used by the mouth and tongue for the letters r and l...in some languages, they're combined.

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[kahei]

Koreans have about the same amount of trouble with the L/R thing as Japanese, I'd say.

Also, Koreans have trouble distinguishing F and P. Cue hilarity, I guess.

What bothers me more is that Americans English seems to be losing distinct vowel phonemes so rapidly. *sigh* entropy entropy

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Anonymous Coward]

raikosu would be the japanese shitheads. The superior corean (spelled with a *C*, the only true spelling of motherland corea) gods of the east can correctly pronounce their L's. Fuck you, you will die under our sword. NORTH and SOUTH COREA UNIFICATION IS COMING.

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Koreans have about the same amount of trouble with the L/R thing as Japanese, I'd say.

Also, Koreans have trouble distinguishing F and P. Cue hilarity, I guess."

You're right. L/R pronunciations are both a Korean and Japanese problem.

As for the letter F, as well as letter V, the sounds that these letters make cannot be reproduced in the Korean language, so the F is pronounced like a P and the V is pronounced like a B, to make it easier for them to learn and speak in the English language.

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Anonymous Coward]

What bothers me more is that Americans English seems to be losing distinct vowel phonemes so rapidly. *sigh* entropy entropy

About fucking time. Who the fuck needs 20 different vowels, when 5 will do. Just do like the rest of the civilized world, and pronounce it the way it's written.

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[Anonymous Coward]

And who needs a vocabulary when saying 'fuck' every other word will do-at least when you're talking to fellow illiterates

Re:I sure hope they bought this domain too.

[StalinsNotDead]

How do you pronounce "ough"?
Example/Rhymes with
Through/Threw
Cough/Off
Rough/Stuff
Thoug ht/dot
Bough/cow
Lough/Lock
Dough/Throw
In English, you can't pronounce it like it's written.

Not too bad a deal

[r_j_prahad]

Terra bought Lycos for $12.5 billion and they managed to sell if for $105 million.

Not so bad a deal that they can't make up for it in volume....

I remember...

[Cyno01]

Back in middle school, using lycos picture search for porn. Bout the only thing its ever been good for...

Re:I remember...

[Anonymous Coward]

Lycos doesn't even do that well now. Altavista has the best porn search engine now.

http://www.altavista.com/image/results?tp=adult

They're speaking Spin-glish.

[LightningBolt!]

In a statement, Terra Networks said the sale [was part] of the company's strategy of "strengthening its presence in geographical areas in which the Telefónica Group has significant operations and in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking market."

Translation in English:
In a statement, Terra Networks said the sale was part of the company's strategy of "Thrashing around wildly in markets it doesn't even slightly understand."

This is proof of Wall Street's 'casino mentality'

[iamcf13]

How much is a company really worth when all the BS is stripped away?...

OT: SCO = litigious bastards sig

[PReDiToR]

Your sig (litigous bastards with an Anchor tag poitning to SCO.com) made me go check Google ... It looks like the Google bomb has worked; Sco.com is the top answer for ten points =)

Re:OT: SCO = litigious bastards sig

[Anonymous Coward]

Duh - have you been under a rock for the last twelve-plus months?

http://www.litigiousbastards.com

How do you know?

[Anonymous Coward]

The article doesn't say either way.

That aspirating sound and rustling bills...

[Marko DeBeeste]

.... is simply modern Lycos-suction

RIP OFF!

[Servo]

102 Million is still a rip off. Original was in the billions? And people wonder why the economy went bust!

Re:RIP OFF!

[Monkey]

A total rip off. 102 Million for a ... web portal? And not even a particularly cutting edge popular one either.

The Investors Creed

[Velcroman98]

It's supposed to be buy low sell high, did they forget?

Re:The Investors Creed

[GoofyBoy]

Obviously they couldn't figure out the elusive "Step 2: ???" part.

Re:The Investors Creed

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I think they were high at the time of purchase as well.

A Story from the Mysterious Future (?)

[xmas2003]

Microsoft Corporation has finally decided to dump its struggling web portal, Google, to the South Korean-based Daum Communications Corp. Microsoft bought Google for $32.5 billion (shortly before their IPO) and they managed to sell if for $105 million.

In unrelated news, Bill Gates took out a second mortgage on his house and has a garage sale planned for the upcoming weekend.

Just one burning question

[AvantLegion]

So, Lycos...

...what will you do when Korea is reunified?

Re:Just one burning question

[Anonymous Coward]

What. The. Fuck. Does that have to do with anything?

It is called Speculation Street...

[iammaxus]

try the third one down

My how times change

[jlink7]

When I was in High School (umm, awhile ago), Lycos was my favorite search engine, even over Yahoo!. I can't begin to imagine the management mishaps that had to have happened in order to drive that cart into the ground.

I also thought that they had plenty of interesting features, they really just failed to innovate in order to compete against the Yahoo!'s, Googles, and MSNs of today.

Re:My how times change

[waimate]

Take heart:- if, when you were in high school, you had a favorite search engine, then it is not too much of a while ago ;)

Re:My how times change

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone remember Alta Vista? I used to use it all the time... now I can't even remember the last time I visited their site. It's been so long.

Re:My how times change

[NewNole2001]

i use babelfish still... whenever i need something translated...

Re:My how times change

[Anonymous Coward]

they really just failed to innovate in order to compete against the Yahoo!'s, Googles, and MSNs of today

Those being: yahoo!, google, and msn ;)

Telefonica

[jjga]

Telifonica, which is the national phone company of Spain

Telefonica stopped being a state-owned company several years ago. So it is not the "national" company anymore, or at least not more than any of the many more that currently exist in Spain.

Re:Telefonica

[Toutatis]

They are still "de facto" the national company in Spain for most of users. They own the local loop and ADSL is reselled from Telefonica by other ISPs, even Terra.

Re:Telefonica

[PhiberOptix]

Telefonica also makes tons of cash in Brasil too (iirc, about 50% of its profits come from Brasil), as telefonica bought the rights to provide telephone service to many cities, including the largest one, sao paulo.

Wha?

[gwoodrow]

Lycos was still around?

another link for this news

[ksoonson]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/archives/result_conte nts.asp?id=200408030037

Obligatory

[bool morpheus()]

We welcome our new South Korean overlords. -Lycos Sorry, I just had to say it.

WHops.

[Anonymous Coward]

bought Lycos for $12.5 billion and they managed to sell if for $105 million.

Ha-ha!

Once opon a time....

[soimless]

lycos had a advertisment with a dog bringing things to pepole in the super bowl. now webmonkey has a chance to be turned into some Korean Broadband service. Or am i just over fearing....

nope - this is a different CEO

[muyuubyou]

Terra belongs to Telefónica (biggest telecom in Spain, coming from a national monopoly). In year 2000 the CEO was Villalonga (close friends with ex-PM Aznar) whose strategy was expanding through the Americas, thus buying Lycos made sense. Villalonga was expelled by political pressure, since in Spain, american practices like stock options are considered bribery and corruption.

The new CEO (who has devalued the company substantially) had a completely different approach and Lycos no longer makes sense in the company.

Re:nope - this is a different CEO

[mshiltonj]

in Spain, american practices like stock options are considered bribery and corruption.

Hmmm. I wonder why?

Re:nope - this is a different CEO

[StateOfTheUnion]

Villalonga was expelled by political pressure, since in Spain, american practices like stock options are considered bribery and corruption.

Perhaps this is because Telefonica is not truly a private company in the US sense of the word. The national government has "golden shares" that give it controlling interest and the political group in power still appoints several board members. This practice of holding golden shares was declared illegal by a European Union court, but the practice remains in Spain. The same can be said of Repsol and other large corporations in Spain. It is unfortunate that at the top of large Spanish coporations who you know in the government is often more important that what you can do . . .

If you used your government connections to get the job and you are still accountable to the government and the government can fire you, then perhaps you are a government employee. Then such things as stock options would be seen as compensation from the government . . . or stealing from the government depending on how you look at it.

Re:nope - this is a different CEO

[ahdeoz]

Of course, in Spain, practices like bribery and corruption are widely accepted.

why lycos?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it means "Fuck you north korea" in Korean.

Attention Investors!

[appleLaserWriter]

Good afternoon,

I would like to offer my web-portal development services to investors from around the world. Any group that would like a lycos-like portal may nominate a lead investor and make a $100,000 (USD) non-refundable deposit into my numbered swiss bank account. Upon receipt of funds, I will entertain your request for a Lycos-like site. I am confident that I can deliver Lycos-like functionality for merely $50M (USD). Additional features may require additional cost. After the evaluation period, I will select the team whose request is the best combination of feasible and practical.

Don't delay, even as you read this post, Korean investors are leaping ahead of you with their new Lycos portal. Be the first in your country to have your very own Web Portal. Operators are standing by!

Re:This is proof of Wall Street's 'casino mentalit

[Anonymous Coward]

> How much is a company really worth

The time-discounted value of future earnings.

Hope This Helps.

but Lycos is the best place in the Internet

[rggoldie]

It's hard to believe Lycos could fall so far when their "high octane site yields access to literally everything that makes the information age great." Lycos Culture

Our Culture - What Do We Do? Lycos is the most exciting online service in existence. Combining elements of navigation, community and commerce, we forge speedily ahead in our goal to become the most visited online destination in the world. Lycos gains our followers the old fashioned way...we earn them. Our interactive products and an unmatched customer focus guarantee us a spot at the zenith of the World Wide Web. One quick browse through our high octane site yields access to literally everything that makes the information age great. Join Lycos and secure yourself a place in the future of the Internet.

Daum

[Anonymous Coward]

Terra bought Lycos for $12.5 billion and they managed to sell if for $105 million.

Daum

Evidently...

[Chordonblue]

They must know something we don't. I can tell you that every single Korean girl in our school has a Daum account - as amazing as that seems.

Daum is also consistantly the most visited portal in S. Korea. They are now what Yahoo was 3 years ago. Hell, they even LOOK like Yahoo!

So why would a top Korean site purchase Lycos? For SmartSearch perhaps? Dunno!

Ummmmm, 2%?

[tehdaemon]

At that price, you would earn about 2%/year on your money. Not all that hot. The only way that this makes sense is if you think that Google will a) double (or better) its profits by cost cutting etc., or b) double (or better) it's revenue with the same profit margins, and you think that Google's market value will not fall. Or you think you can sell it back soon to an even bigger sucker than yourself before reality sets in.

If not, well, 10 year Treasuries are yealding 4.5%, and you will get your money back. Given the risk factors, $5 billion sounds a little high to me. It almost looks to me like the bubble lost some air, but did not pop.

Re:Ummmmm, 2%?

[TXH-88]

You must have missed that he mentioned Microsoft as the buyer. They just saw that it got them an inch closer to total global dominance.

Lycos chat is crap too

[Anonymous Coward]

Lycos chat doesn't work properly in Mozilla / Firefox, and, even better, it frequently freezes or crashes Internet Exploder. The place isn't worth $1, let alone $100 million

ALCOHOL SHARPENS YOUR BRAIN

[Anonymous Coward]

YET ANOTHER QUALITY STORY fuckdot rejected!

Alcohol sharpens your brain, say researchers
By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 01/08/2004)

It is news guaranteed to raise a cheer among those who enjoy a glass or two: drinking half a bottle of wine a day can make your brain work better, especially if you are a woman.

Research to be published tomorrow by academics at University College London has found that those who even drink only one glass of wine a week have significantly sharper thought processes than teetotallers.

Sir Michael Marmot of UCL led the study

The benefits of alcohol, which are thought to be linked to its effect on the flow of blood to the brain, can be detected when a person drinks up to 30 units of alcohol - about four to five bottles of wine - per week.

The researchers were unable to test the effect of higher levels of alcohol consumption, although drunkenness probably negates any positive effects on the brain.

The findings have surprised health officials, who issued yet another warning last week about the dangers of overdrinking.

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, one in six women now drinks more than the Government's recommended limit of 14 units of alcohol a week - an increase of 70 per cent since the late 1980s. The recommended maximum weekly intake for men is 21 units.

The latest findings on the benefits of alcohol are drawn from a study of the long-term health of 10,000 British civil servants. Known as the Whitehall Study, it was originally set up in 1967 to identify links between health and factors ranging from smoking and obesity to age and social status.

In the latest research, a team led by Sir Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, gave psychometric tests to more than 6,000 civil servants.

The questions ranged from verbal and mathematical reasoning problems to tests of short-term memory. The civil servants' performance was then matched against their drinking habits.

The study took into account all alcohol consumption and was not specific to wine. However, the results showed that those having even a single glass of wine a week scored significantly higher in the tests than more abstemious drinkers. Teetotallers were twice as likely as occasional drinkers to achieve the lowest scores.

The benefits were most marked among women drinkers and, to the researchers' surprise, showed no sign of flattening out with increasing consumption.

Those who downed the equivalent of half a bottle of wine or two pints of beer a day scored best of all. The effects were apparent even after the results had been adjusted to take into account factors such as physical and mental health.

"Our results appear to suggest some specificity in the association between alcohol consumption and cognitive ability," said the team. "Frequent drinking may be more beneficial than drinking only on special occasions."

The team, whose findings are being reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggests that the results may reflect the fact that alcohol can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and increase blood flow to the brain - factors linked to improved mental function.

The researchers also speculate that women might benefit more because of the different way in which they metabolise alcohol. However, they acknowledge that the benefits of alcohol can be outweighed by the increased risks of getting diseases such as cancer and cirrhosis, and that the findings should not be used as an excuse for heavier drinking.

Dr Guy Ratcliffe, the medical director of the Medical Council on Alcohol, said that the study would add to earlier evidence that moderate drinking could be beneficial - offering advantages such as a reduced risk of heart disease and

Re:This is proof of Wall Street's 'casino mentalit

[mshiltonj]

How much is a company really worth when all the BS is stripped away?...

$2.37

Flied Lice?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is exactly where "Flied Lice" came from. A tasty Asian treat, nonetheless.

Cash is Paper Too!

[Bubblesculpter]

People talk about loosing money in stocks is 'only a paper loss'.

Well, what is money printed on?? ... PAPER!

Hard cash is just paper...

Yeah, yeah, I know how the stock market works -- it's just kinda funny how people relate different terms of money in different ways.

I'd like to move currency back to the OLD style -- live goats. Kinda hard to fudge the value of those, eh?

Re:Cash is Paper Too!

[triso]

I'd like to move currency back to the OLD style -- live goats. Kinda hard to fudge the value of those, eh?

Not so. I happen to have a few MAGIC goats here, if you're interested...

Re:Cash is Paper Too!

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'd like to move currency back to the OLD style -- live goats. Kinda hard to fudge the value of those, eh?"

And the sex isn't bad either, eh?

All those Page Hyjacks.

[NetNinja]

Allthough it will never be proven, who was the MF who was programming hyjack programs to reroute peoples web browsers to Lycos?

What a scam! I bet they used that data to show the South Koreans that people still used Lycos as thier search engine.

Poor Lycos Dog

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess the Koreans will be eating that sweet little Lycos dog.

Don't believe me? Look here

Hello Lion!

[Ipingforpong]

I spent about 8 years in Seoul as a kid while my mom taught english at the local college. My name is Ryan and everyday it would be "Hello Lion!". They didn't have any problem with their L's, but I'm still Lion to this day.

Re:Hello Lion!

[Anonymous Coward]

In Korean, the Korean letter signifies both the L and R sound, and changes according to spelling rules. So, that's why Koreans pronounce some English L's as R's, and vice-versa.

All your searches are belong to us!!

[Anonymous Coward]

All your searches are belong to us!! We r 0wn j00!!!11

That's funny....

[callipygian-showsyst]

...I searched Lycos for "puppies" and I got these ads for restaurants!

All this talk and no mention of Sonique?

[Anonymous Coward]

The undying fans of Sonique2 are drooling down their shirts at the thought that the project might be resurrected.

And with good reason, too. S2 beta is buggy but freakin' awesome. Amazing that this project was started years ago and still can compete with anything out there.

Yo, this isn't Anandtech

[Anonymous Coward]

Trim your sig. We really don't care who you dress up as, anyway.

i wouldn't waste spit on lycos

[Anonymous Coward]

Lycos was pithetic as a search engine, and I am surprised it was worth anything...

Go get it, Lycos!

[Anonymous Coward]

Go get it, Lycos!