Lycos Closes European Portal Amidst Significant Losses

Lycos Europe is to sell some of its assets and shut down the rest, after the company failed to find an investor in the current frosty economic environment, the company announced on Wednesday.

The Netherlands-based company, which provides web hosting, internet search, online shopping tools, and social networking services, has had a staff strength of 694 in September, out of which one-third were employed in Germany.

The company has faced some fierce competition in internet search domain, from the likes of Google and Yahoo, and registered a massive net loss of 17.1 million euros in the first three quarters of 2008, with total sales of 46.9 million euros.

The company said that its management had concluded selling some of its domains, including shopping activities and Danish portal, as the best possible option to sustain in this crisis situation.

Incidentally the company plans to shut down its web hosting and portal businesses; the rest of its business, which still ranks among top-most internet portals, is owned by Daum Communications, a South Korean internet firm.

The group, which is currently controlled by Spanish telecom firm Telefonica and German Media group Bertelsmann, currently holds a market capitalization of 45 million euros.

The decision on the move will be taken after its shareholders’ meeting on 12 December.

MyLocalWay Introduces Web Presence Solution for Small Businesses

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:20:24 -0800 PST
by Aria Munro

PORTLAND, Ore. — MyLocalWay(TM), the small business Internet presence company, introduces SnapDesign(TM) technology enabling small business owners and service providers to quickly create and maintain professional web sites. Many small business owners do not have websites because they are intimidated by the cost and complexity of creating them for their business. Countless sales opportunities are lost because consumers cannot locate local businesses on the Internet. Painters to plumbers, accountants to architects can build web sites in minutes to grow their businesses. MyLocalWay’s technology removes the technical challenges and addresses this basic need of millions of service providers across the country.

“Many small business owners do not have websites to promote their business because they believe they are too expensive and complicated to create and maintain. Our innovative SnapDesign technology allows busy small business owners with limited time or computer skills the ability to create a website within minutes for only a few cents per day,” said Jeff Braunstein, president and co-founder of MyLocalWay Corporation.

Small business owners creating a website at MyLocalWay start by selecting a pre-designed website template that reflects their company’s image. After selecting the template, the website is created by simply adding text, pictures, or videos in a simple, yet intuitive, interface. MyLocalWay takes care of all the technical details including hosting the web site, creating a unique domain name, and optimizing for search with the likes of Yahoo! and Google.

“MyLocalWay is impressive. It was really easy for me to get a great looking site quickly. I can update it myself anytime I want and my business is now online. I was initially intimidated by the idea of creating my own site, but found it to be very easy and very professional. I would recommend it to anyone,” said David B. Smith, a small business owner, who created his web site at MyLocalWay.com.

MyLocalWay offers two pricing plans. For sites hosted under the MyLocalWay domain, prices start at 3.99 per month. Sites hosted under a custom domain start at $6.67 per month.

Small businesses can now establish a professional Internet presence bypassing expensive custom web development. Any small business can benefit from the millions of customers searching the Internet every day.

About MyLocalWay

MyLocalWay is a privately held startup company dedicated to providing the best tools, products and services for small businesses to leverage the Internet as an integral part of their marketing plan. We do this by enabling small businesses to directly and quickly establish a cost effective, professional, and optimized Internet presence for their business.

For more information, visit: www.MyLocalWay.com .

Go Daddy’s Shoes Were Made for Walking… to Help Cure Juvenile Diabetes

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With shoes tied tight, more than 750 Go Daddy participants were among those who walked to help raise a forecasted $2.1 million for juvenile diabetes research Saturday. The “Walk to Cure Diabetes” was held by the non-profit Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) Desert Southwest Chapter.

This is the second consecutive year Go Daddy was the title sponsor for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes event held at Tempe Town Lake in Tempe, Arizona. The event is the largest family-friendly walk in Arizona and the largest JDRF walk in the world.

Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons donated $125,000 to help with continued juvenile diabetes research. The Go Daddy corporate team raised an additional $10,000 in donations for the cause. Go Daddy did more than donate money too, breaking the chapter’s all-time record for participants representing any one corporate team, with employees, families, friends and pets walking in the JDRF Tempe event.

“Our Go Daddy employees are passionate, enthusiastic, energetic people who want to make a difference,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Helping in the fight to cure Type 1 Diabetes is important to us, especially when you consider how many people are affected by this devastating disease. This walk was a way we could raise money and awareness, plus have a good time doing it.”

Diabetes affects 246 million people worldwide. In the U.S., a new case of diabetes is diagnosed every 30 seconds and more than 1.5 million people are diagnosed each year.

“Go Daddy is committed to supporting the community they serve and also their employees,” said JDRF Desert Southwest Chapter Board of Directors President Einar Seadler. “Bringing together more than 750 walkers Saturday shows their passion and partnership in finding a cure for diabetes. JDRF depends on Bob Parsons and his entire team to make a difference.”

In 2008, Go Daddy has helped organizations dedicated to a variety of causes, including, child abuse, domestic violence victims, Parkinson’s research, flood victims, injured veterans, animal shelters and homeless teenagers. Go Daddy donated nearly $1.5 million to various charities last year and has already surpassed that amount in contributions this year.

Go Daddy is the world’s largest domain registrar and a world leader in Web hosting. Go Daddy is also the second largest provider of SSL Certificates. Go Daddy serves six million customers worldwide providing an array of products for customers to create and maintain an online presence, all backed with 24/7 industry best customer service.

For more information about JDRF, please visit www.JDRF.org.

To learn more about how you can get online quickly and affordably, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.

Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 32 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world’s largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2007, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.

The Go Daddy Group

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