Ratings firms dispute Lycos and Yahoo! market share

NEWS A battle has broken out between two rival Internet ratings agencies over whether Lycos or Yahoo! has the larger share of the portal market. According to Media Metrix, Lycos has overtaken Yahoo! to become the second most visited set of Web sites after AOL.com. But Neilson/NetRatings claim Yahoo! is the leader. Its figures show that Lycos only reached 33 per cent of all home Internet users last month and not the 45 per cent touted by Media Metrix. A report in the Financial Times claims discrepancies in the figures could have an affect the stock value of the rival Internet sites, and may cause problems for Lycos, which is trying to complete an agreed merger with US TV channel, Home Shopping Network.