Choose your answer and the correct choice will be revealed. Correct Answer:ExciteHere's the story behind itIn 1997, Larry Page, one of Google's co-founders, wanted to sell the search engine to Excite for $1.6 million. The proposed deal included $600,000 in cash, $700,000 in stock, and $300,000 for Stanford University. This was during Google's earliest days when it was still called "BackRub" and both Page and Sergey Brin were PhD students. Despite the seemingly modest price tag, the deal obviously didn't happen, though the reason why varies depending on who you ask.In an interview years after the failed negotiations, then CEO of Excite George Bell said the company was comfortable with spending that amount of money on Google. However, they could not agree to one of Page's key conditions: the replacement of Excite's existing search technology with Google's algorithm. This demand created friction, as Bell and his team were reluctant to abandon their proprietary system entirely.While Bell denied certain claims, other accounts offer a different perspective. Some suggest that Excite turned down the acquisition because Google's search technology was "too good." This counterintuitive concern stemmed from fears that Google's highly accurate search results would reduce user engagement. If users found what they were looking for too quickly, they might spend less time browsing the site, leading to lower ad revenue a critical source of income for Excite.Ironically, this is exactly what is happening to Google in recent years (2020 2025). The quality of search results has declined, partly due to the company's focus on monetizing users and discouraging them from leaving Google's ecosystem after viewing search result pages. Additionally, the rise of generative AI and Google's struggle to effectively identify and filter out spam content have further contributed to this decline.In the late 1990s, Excite was a very recognizable brand of the early web. In 1997, it was ranked as the sixth most visited website and had already become a public company. However, its fortunes would soon fade as Google and other competitors rose to prominence.Today the website is merely a shadow of its former self. Excite was eventually acquired by Ask Jeeves (later known as Ask.com) and is now operated as a minor property by the media conglomerate IAC. Once a symbol of early internet success, Excite is now largely a relic of the past.