essage boards, and fan clubs for the Sydney Olympics. McDonald's joined the party as a sponsor of the Lycos Olympic site, in exchange for featured advertising. " This is a powerful combination linking two global leaders in support of the Sydney Olympic Games, and we look forward to continuing to work with McDonald's to further leverage the strengths of both companies," stated Jeff Bennett, senior vice president of corporate development at Lycos. Later, Lycos Asia received a license from the Chinese government to operate one of China's first foreign-owned Web sites. Previously, foreign-owned Web companies could function only through partnerships with Chinese institutions that would exert control over operations. While all of these alliances are potential opportunities, they also increased the complexity of the company-and the complexity of its problems. So, Lycos hired its first chief information officer, Tim Wright. "They were looking for someone with experience in acquisitions, someone who knew how to handle multiple staffs of skilled people and knew how to blend disparate pieces together," Wright explains. In other words, Wright's job was to figure out how to weave technology and people together in a way that allowed workers and managers in the acquired companies to continue to do what they do best. He also showed them how their relationship with Lycos could actually increase their business. "We let [acquired companies] know right away that we can help them by redirecting our traffic to their site and re-circulating traffic back their way," says Wright. But the biggest deal for Lycos was still to come. The company