Lycos plans stock split

today became the latest Internet company to announce a 2-for-1 stock split, joining Amazon.com, Excite, and K-Tel on a growing list.

In afternoon trading, Lycos shares jumped 11.5625, or more than 14 percent, to 90.625, on news of the split, which will become effective to shareholders of record August 14.

"The stock split is designed to improve trading liquidity and broaden ownership of the company's common shares," the firm said in a statement announcing the split. After the stock split, Lycos will have approximately 38,000,000 outstanding common shares.

In recent weeks, a number of Internet companies have seen their stocks surge after they have hinted that they were to team up with large media and entertainment companies. Last week, Lycos was one of three Internet search engines that traded at new highs. Yahoo and Excite also hit highs.

The run-up in Internet stocks has led companies to split their shares in order to make them more affordable to smaller buyers who are still the bulk of investors in Internet companies.

Excite last week announced a 2-for-1 stock split. In April, Amazon also reported a 2-for-1 split.