Santa Monica, CA-based online toy retailer eToys Inc. announced it purchased Toys.com,
a Web-based toy store owned by Web Magic Inc.
Under the purchase agreement, eToys will keep its corporate name and will
continue to operate its Web site under the eToys brand name. Financial
specifics were not disclosed.
“The acquisition of Toys.com clearly illustrates eToys’ leadership in the
online toy industry,” said Toby Lenk, CEO of eToys. “Combining forces with
Toys.com will allow eToys to focus on delivering more to consumers and
remaining the Internet’s top toy store.”
eToys will acquire Toys.com’s Web site address, its
inventory of toy items,and its database of online toy purchasers. As part of
the combined stock and cash deal, Greg McLemore, president of Web Magic, will
become a significant shareholder of eToys.
eToys is also acquiring Toys.com’s distribution agreement with Yahoo!, which includes the Merchant Spotlight
on the toys page of the Yahoo! Visa Shopping Guide. With the Yahoo! agreement,
eToys said it now has significant distribution agreements with all of the
major Internet gateways, including America Online, Yahoo!, Infoseek, Excite,
and Lycos.
eToys was founded in March 1997 by CEO Toby Lenk, formerly a corporate vice
president in the strategic planning area of The Walt Disney Company; and by
entrepreneur Bill Gross, founder of Knowledge Adventure, a leading children’s
software company, and chairman of idealab!, an Internet startup.
