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eToy's sarcastic send-off to bankrupt namesake

eToys founder offered place on board

One of the early Net successes, which has since slipped into bankruptcy - eToys.com - has been given a sarcastic send-off by namesake eToy.com.

"The etoy.CREW takes a respectful bow before eToys' corporate grave," says a statement on the eToy site. That is followed by several comments regarding eToys and the nature of Internet businesses by eToy owners. These include: "Burning capital for crazy business plans is a good thing to do and 'bricks-and-mortar' is just not the kick we are looking for", "These guys [eToys] went out to shake things up. Ok, their business plan needs to be scrapped and the way they tried to solve disputes was neither smart nor ethical. But business is hard and Mr Lenk [eToys founder] a young man" and "The Porsche that is parked in your garage is connected to the life you live and the cash you burn to the friends and enemies you have. If YOU don't connect those things yourself eToy will do it for you."

The message ends with an offer for Mr Lenk to take a place on eToy's board.

eToy.com has had some history with the toy-selling site: in 1999, eToys attempted to sue eToy - a European Internet artists group - for trademark infringement, even though eToy registered its site first. A year after this action was dropped (at the end of 1999), eToy fired back with its own lawsuit, claiming that it was actually eToys that was infringing its trademark.

The online toy store - which was listed on Nasdaq and at one point worth $9 billion - went into bankruptcy in February this year, having tried to save itself through heavy job cuts in January. Just recently, US toy company KB said it was buying eToys' inventory for $5.4 million. It's worth about $40 million. ®

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