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Technology Stocks : INFOSEEK (GO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mac II who wrote (2194)	1/30/1998 2:50:00 PM
From: SHGLaw	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9343

Boy, it seems a lot of people are edgy about this, not just me. Let's turn for a moment to what IMO Seek can and should do, per Ken's questions: 1. Can Seek thrive (survive?) by copying xcit's business model? First, I don't think that they can copy it, as much as imitate it somewhat. Xcit's model involves the sale of their "real estate", the channels, to other companies for money. They have gotten exclusive deals with some very large numbers attached, ie., $40M from intuit. Seek has partnered, but unlike xcit, got nothing for it up front and has minimal revenue sharing. It's almost as if partners were begging xcit while seek was begging for partners. Second, the engine/net media industry doesn't need also-ran copycats. It's not as though the world needs 2 xcits, or 4+ engines for that matter. Every product or company must fill a niche or it will eventually fade away. Seek has yet to find a niche, or a purpose, or a reason why it should exist. It's isn't that its technology isn't good, but so what. Why should I as an advertiser or partner want to spend my money on seek when I could spend the same money on xcit or yhoo? When seek can answer that question, it will finally be moving in a direction and figuring out its place in the scheme of things. 2. Xcit and Yhoo were innovators. Yhoo is obvious, and xcit created the business model of selling real estate to partners. These partners understand the point of exclusivity: Nobody buys the cow if they can get the milk for free. There is nothing exclusive about seek. There's nothing on seek that can't be gotten elsewhere. This is a terrible shame, that seek has been unable to mold itself into anything special or attract at least one major partner who is willing to tie its lot to seek. 3. Xcit floundered for a while before it started a very aggressive acquisition campaign which put it in the number 2 position to Yhoo. While Yhoo was too aloof and strong, and didn't need the partners that xcit did, xcit was strapped for cash, long on eyeballs and needed all the friends it could get. Desperation is the mother of invention. Xcit's need for working capital gave rise to its very aggressive courting of channel partners for money. Seek has been somewhat comfortable, and never had the level of desparation that xcit had that gave rise to xcit's bold and innovative approach. But seek's minor comfort level has held it back. Reminds me of Janis Joplin singing "freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose." Seek's tied up in its way of doing things, too afraid of taking risk to move forward and yet too lacking in innovation and aggressiveness to make the niche it needs. Ultimately, seek will either have to move forward or die. Maybe this is happening now, and explains its need for the money to be generated from its 3M share sale. It's possible, but it could also be possible that it needs the money just to keep up the copying model. In any event, until Seek makes a move that matters, it will continue to take a back seat to xcit and yhoo, and maybe even lcos, until one day there's just no reason for seek to exist anymore. SHG