This acquisition is a strong illustration of how we can leverage our sizeable cash position to fulfil our mission to be the most visited online destination in the world

Bob Davis, Terra Lycos

Terra Lycos, which describes itself as the "largest global internet network", quotes analysts predicting that financial websites will achieve annual advertising revenues of about $2.4bn within four years.

Raging Bull runs about 13,000 chat rooms and discussion boards, where users spend about 100 minutes per month.

The new acquisition will keep its brand, but will be integrated with the group's existing financial websites, Quote.com and Invertia.com.

Bob Davis, the chief executive of Terra Lycos, said the deal would deliver "one of the most comprehensive and compelling financial offerings for both users and advertisers".

The stock market liked the deal, giving Terra a boost of 5%. After plunging nearly 80% during last year's tech stock massacre, the company's share price has gained nearly 50% during the past few weeks.

On Raging Bull's website, the first small changes were already visible.

While Raging Bull's web address still betrays its Altavista origin, the top line and the copyright notice already pronounce it to be part of the "Lycos Network".

War chest

Terra Lycos is the result of last year's merger of Terra Networks, the internet division of Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica, and the US-based Lycos search engine and entertainment portal.

Since a successful stock market debut, Terra Lycos has been sitting on a war chest of about 3bn euros ($2.78bn, �1.9bn).

Through a mixture of acquisitions and expansion, Terra Lycos is now operating in 41 countries and 20 languages.

The company claims to reach 91 million unique users every month.

According to Mr Davis, the deal is "a strong illustration of how we can leverage our sizeable cash position to fulfil our mission to be the most visited online destination in the world".

For Altavista, the deal should bring in some much-needed cash.

Once the web's pioneering search engine and now an online portal, Altavista has been losing out lately in the race for marketshare.

Owned by venture capital firm CMGI, the company postponed its flotation several times, before calling it off completely.

Earlier this month Altavista announced that it would lay off a quarter of its workforce in an attempt to cut costs.