Going to Zero
eToys' fun coming to an end
Some workers will remain on the job as long as through April 6, and eToys will continue to work with Goldman Sachs to "explore a range of strategic alternatives," including a merger, asset sale or financial restructuring. But eToys left little hope that it would survive beyond March 31, when its remaining cash is due to run out, saying that it "does not believe that additional capital will be available to the company."
The company said it received a notice from Nasdaq that its shares are in danger of being delisted because they have traded at under $1 for at least 30 consecutive days. eToys dropped 3 cents Monday to 28 cents.
eToys's share price took the usual dot-com trajectory: After going public in the summer of 1999, shares rose as high as $90, giving the company a market value of more than $1.5 billion, before collapsing.
After seeing much of its market share slip away to Toys R Us (TOY:NYSE - news) during the crucial holiday season, the company laid off 70% of its employees on Jan. 4, capping a disturbing Christmas season that saw it disclose that it was burning cash much more quickly than it expected.
Rumors of eToys' demise have circulated for about a month, and the news deals another blow to the online retail industry. While online retailing once sent investors into a tizzy with its promise of soaring growth and low costs, those fantasies have largely evaporated, leaving Amazon.com (AMZN:Nasdaq - news) and eBay (EBAY:Nasdaq - news) as the two remaining pure Internet retailers that have the attention of investors.
Instead, what this past holiday season made clear is that the online offshoots of traditional retailers are beginning to dominate shopping on the Web. While data from industry research group Jupiter Media Metrix show that $10.8 billion was spent online during the holiday season -- 54% above last year, but slightly shy of estimates -- most of that growth was from so-called bricks-and-clicks retailers.
And much to the chagrin of eToys, one of the largest online winners during the holidays was Toysrus.com, which saw its online sales triple to $124 million thanks, in part, to its co-branded site with Amazon.
Aber da kann nun Starikone auch nichts für,er hat seine wie angekündigt ja nun längst verkauft,warum hast Du das nicht rechtzeitig getan?Dass dies ein riskanter Zock war hat er sicher gesagt.
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