In the increasingly competitive world of online searching, four companies have managed to keep their engines on the road by, ironically, getting out of the business. Inc., Excite Inc., Lycos Inc. and Infoseek Corp. have emerged as market leaders by moving beyond merely linking Internet users with information on the Web. But many companies are adding robustness to their sites. Basically, investors are betting on potential. Although the losses of these companies are shrinking, they're still losses.
Many investors say the companies have up to a year to prove they can make the big bucks.
Meta's Yockelson agreed. But that might not be enough time. Online commerce, which many see as the panacea for money-losing Web sites, isn't expected to take off for three or four years, Yockelson said. Also, the number of advertising dollars spent on the Internet is relatively small. And a disproportionate amount of those ad dollars go to the top sites.