Compaq search engine could fetch more than $2 billion.

Sources have confirmed that Internet holding company CMGI is in talks to buy the Alta Vista search engine and other Internet assets from Compaq Computer in a deal said to be worth more than $2 billion. The deal would leave Compaq with a minority stake in CMGI. Rumors of the possible sale were reported all day, first appearing on the JagNotes Web site, in commentary by Dan Dorfman suggesting that CMGI might be talking to Compaq about buying its Internet assets, including the Alta Vista unit. A deal would make Compaq a significant minority shareholder in CMGI, on the order of 15 percent or more. CMGI already owns 18 percent of search site Lycos, as well as stakes in more than 30 other Internet companies that offer a variety of Web-related services such as advertising and marketing. Chairman and CEO Wetherell owns about 19 percent of CMGI; Intel, Microsoft, and Sumitomo also hold minority interests. (Microsoft is a partner in MSNBC.) CMGI, formerly CMG Information Services, was founded in 1968 as College Marketing Group, a company that sold names of college professors and their books to publishers. Wetherell purchased CMG in 1986 and began expanding the company_s direct marketing efforts and, more recently, aggressively investing in Internet companies. There has been speculation that CMGI might have to register as a mutual fund because of the amount of assets in its sizable Internet portfolio. An acquisition the size of Alta Vista could defer that type of move for CMGI, giving it a significant wholly owned asset.