Info on Excite...
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Author: TheSmay Number: of 5844
Subject: The scoop on the Excite deal Date: 1/16/02 10:58 PM
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Bankrupt but Reincarnated: Sorting out the Excite.com Confusion
By Andrew Goodman, January 14, 2002
BANKRUPT BUT REINCARNATED: SORTING OUT THE EXCITE.COM CONFUSION
Since Infospace acquired "the Excite.com domain name and other certain assets" for an estimated cost of $10 million in the Excite@Home bankruptcy proceedings, there has been some confusion as to who owns what. Justifiable confusion, considering that another company, iWon, jumped into the fray as well.
Here's the basic sequence of events. Excite@Home management did try to shop Excite's traffic, brand and other assets around over the summer, but found no takers at any price. Late last year, as part of ExciteAtHome's bankruptcy proceedings, Infospace finally put in a bid.
Infospace had evidently decided that its main interest was in Excite's search engine traffic, however. As part of the deal, another company, iWon, "put in some money," according to Infospace PR manager Steve Stratz, and either licensed or bought the majority of the Excite assets from Infospace, leaving Infospace the sole operator of only the search and directory related properties.
In fact, iWon, a portal which focuses on "lottery style" giveaways to attract users, felt there was still such strong consumer identification with the Excite brand that it decided to change its company name to Excite Networks! So when consumers see a message from "The New Excite Team," they're really dealing with a new outfit called "Excite Networks" which was formerly called iWon. Excite Networks (formerly iWon) will continue to operate the Excite.com portal and numerous related services including web-based email. It will also continue to operate the iWon portal at iwon.com.
The only thing this new company called Excite Networks won't be operating is the search engine and directory traffic, which is owned and operated by Infospace. Currently, Excite search traffic is being redirected to Overture paid search results. A link to something called "Excite Metasearch" leads to Infospace's Dogpile metasearch engine.
According to Stratz, this is just a holding pattern as the transition is completed to new ownership and new systems. A new metasearch engine is being developed by Infospace as a "new metasearch service for the Excite portal," says Stratz, that will "better satisfy the needs of Excite users." Although the specifics of the offering aren't clear at this time, Stratz acknowledges that in terms of product quality and user interest, "Dogpile and Metacrawler aren't as good as they once were," and that a new metasearch product will likely involve "negotiations with a broader variety of search providers and information sources."
So is Excite dead? Maybe so, but the Excite brand is alive and well, and the two companies which have inherited this brand seem bent on pumping new life into it.
The final bit of consumer confusion is around the Internet access side of the business - the AtHome cable Internet network, which is continuing to operate (but only for a few more weeks) while its partner cable companies seek alternative arrangements. Before its bankruptcy, AtHome provided Internet access and email to millions of consumers. Some of these customers are trying to contact Infospace about problems with their email. But Infospace didn't acquire any actual subscribers, just certain Excite.com brand and portal traffic assets. Cable internet subscribers should be contacting the cable company with whom they have their Internet subscription instead.
The craziest part of this is that we might very well see a new company called "Excite Networks" file for an initial public stock offering sometime in the next few years. Talk about back to the future. |
