Lycos Sold for $36 Million to India's Ybrant

Digital marketer Ybrant is acquiring Lycos for $36 million from Daum Communications, snapping up an early search pioneer that fell from the pack and is now considered a second-tier player. India-based Ybrant announced the buy on Tuesday (Monday night in the U.S.)

Under the deal, Lycos and its collection of websites, from Tripod to HotBot, will join Ybrant's digital marketing service, which dishes up targeted advertising technology to online publishers and advertisers.

"Brand Lycos needs no introduction," said Suresh Reddy, Ybrant CEO, in a statement. "Our goal is to combine the benefits of Ybrant's global network with what Lycos has to offer in creating a compelling global destination for our adverting clients worldwide."

Ybrant is hoping to bolster its global reach for its advertising clients with Lycos' 60 million unique monthly users worldwide, the company said. Over the past 16 years, however, Lycos has fallen from among the top Internet properties to failing to rank among comScore's latest top 50 in the U.S., according to its June report.

The Ybrant acquisition's $36 million price is a far drop from the $4.6 billion Terra Networks paid back in 2000, as Internet stocks continued their dive. Lycos eventually passed to Korea-based Daum in 2004 for $95 million, before Daum decided to refocus on its domestic business.