Online gardening products retailer Garden.com (Nasdaq: GDEN) late Wednesday said it sold its content assets to Brisbane-based Walmart.com.
On Nov 15, 2000, Garden.com said it would be closing its doors and that it planned to sell its consumer business assets after it failed to secure financing to fund operations or find a buyer for the company.
Garden.com said it received an aggregate amount of $4.425 million for these assets, of which about $800,000 was deposited in escrow and is subject to a possible reduction based on a post-closing adjustment, and $500,000 of which had been previously deposited with the company.
Walmart.com, the online store of popular retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), acquired all of Garden.com’s major content assets, including editorial, interactive and film content.
Walmart.com officials say plans are in the works to integrate parts of the content into Wal-Mart’s garden centers as well as, on a limited basis, into the Walmart.com site this year, with fuller integration into the site next year.
Walmart.com is a joint venture of Wal-Mart and Palo Alto-based Accel Partners, a venture capital firm. Wal-Mart is the majority owner of the independent company.
Garden.com said it still plans to evaluate bids and other strategic alternatives for its other assets, including its hardware, equipment and Green Cheetah, its 80% owned subsidiary, which is developing database performance software. The company currently estimates that it will distribute between 10 cents and 25 cents per share to its stockholders.
The soon-to-be defunct company has a 52-week high of $10-3/4.
