Excite@Home's 119 domain names up for sale

With names like Stuff.com or Firstyears.com, how can you lose?

Apparently former high-speed Internet provider Excite@Home once felt likewise. But At Home Liquidating Trust, successor to the once high-flying Internet darling Excite@Home, said Wednesday it is selling the former broadband company's 119 domain names.

The sale of the domain names marks yet another step in the dismantling of the former Internet giant since its Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001.

The former company had amassed a war chest of names, ranging from Shoppingcart.com to Home.net to Mystuff.com.

It was a sign of the Internet boom era in the late 1990s, with a number of companies and individuals snapping up domain names with the intent of reselling them later, or using them for future business areas they might expand into.

Although the froth over the Internet industry has mellowed and matured, the demand for existing domain names still exists.

MonsterCommerce, for example, has already snapped up a former Excite@Home domain name, plunking down $285,000 for Shoppingcart.com, according to Moniker.com, which is handling the domain name sales for At Home Liquidating Trust.

"There are several valuable domain names in the portfolio. Short names like Stuff.com and Home.net will be highly prized assets in the sale," Monte Cahn, chief executive of Moniker.com, said in a statement. He estimated the domain name portfolio to be worth more than $1 million.

After the domain names have been sold, the majority of Excite@Home's remaining intellectual property may be next on tap, pending a decision by Excite@Home's creditors, said a representative for At Home Liquidating Trust.

A company that could but didnt.

I remember back in like 1995, Excite was a place to be. Long before anyone was ever googled. I would have compared this company to Yahoo, infact for a time it seemed better.

It's kind of sad to see Excite fade out, it used to be such a big part of the internet. It was my favourite search tool before google came along.

Heh those were in the netscape days.

[Mendz]

Excite a sad story...

:-(