Terra Lycos' Agut denies making anti-Jewish remarks

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by Daniel Helft

(IDG) -- Terra Lycos' Executive Chairman Joaquim Agut released a statement late Sunday denying he made anti-Semitic remarks at a recent dinner party attended by most of his top executives.

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The statement, signed by Agut, said that the stories in the press are "completely false. Those are stories based on comments by an anonymous source. Employees that were present (at the dinner) have declared publicly that those remarks are not true."

An Agut spokesman reiterated that the "11 or 12" executives who were present at the dinner party signed statements denying they heard anti-Semitic remarks.

According to a story that appeared last week in Epoca, a Spanish weekly magazine, and written by the leading financial reporter and best-selling author Jesus Cacho, Agut made anti-Jewish remarks at a dinner party attended by 20 of his top executives.

He is said to have prohibited them from conducting business deals with Jews, and was quoted in the article as saying, "Throughout my life I have done business with Jews, and they have always tried to cheat me."

On Friday, the Dow Jones Newswires reported it had independently confirmed that Agut made anti-Semitic remarks at the meal.

Agut's alleged comments prompted outrage in Spain's Jewish community. One prominent Jewish businessman in Madrid said last week that business leaders were planning a boycott of the world's fourth-largest portal to pressure Agut into resigning or issuing a full apology. And leading Jewish community leaders met with Agut on Friday to discuss his alleged remarks.

The flap couldn't have come at a worse time for Terra Lycos. The company is trying to regroup after losing CEO Bob Davis and COO Abel Linares in the past month, both victims of a power struggle with Agut. Wall Street confidence is at an all-time low. Analysts say the leadership void has kept the company from moving forward with new products or acquisitions that could help it compete with AOL, MSN and Yahoo.

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