Pets.com Inc., which is in the process of going out of
business, signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell various URLs and
related trademarks including the Pets.com domain to PETsMART.com.
Effective immediately, typing the pets.com URL into a browser will take users
to the PETsMART.com Web site. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The transaction will not include any other operating assets of Pets.com, such
as its customer list, Sock Puppet character, inventory or distribution center
equipment, the company said.
On Nov. 7, the San Francisco, CA-based company said it would lay off 225 of
its 320 employees and plans to sell the majority of its assets, including
inventory, distribution center equipment, URLs, content and its Sock Puppet
icon as well as other intellectual property. The company’s stock had slipped
below $1.
Pets.com said it “believes the purchase price will not materially increase
the distributions, if any, which Pets.com expects to make in the future to
its stockholders after it has completed the process of winding down its
business and selling a majority of its assets.”
Pet products retailer PETsMART Inc., which operates more than 530 pet
superstores in the United States and Canada, recently said it will pay
$30 million in cash and assets for a controlling interest in online pet
operation PETsMART.com.
Founded in May 1999 as a privately held company, PETsMART.com has been funded
by PETsMART and other investors, including idealab!, idealab Capital Partners
and Global Retail Partners, as well as Big Dog Holdings Inc.