“Toys ‘R’ Us, Inc. acquires eToys.com” was the simple headline on the announcement last week that Toys ‘R’ Us had acquired its arch dot com era rival eToys.com along with e-commerce site BabyUniverse.com and parenting resource website ePregnancy.com.
“eToys.com is a highly respected brand with a rich heritage of innovation and growth, and we look forward to championing the next phase of its evolution,” said Jerry Storch, Chairman and CEO of Toys ‘R’ Us.
“We believe the acquisition of eToys.com, together with BabyUniverse.com and ePregnancy.com, will advance our leadership in the toy and baby products sectors and position the company for strong market share growth,” he added. “We are committed to providing loyal customers of these sites with an enhanced online experience, while continuing to offer a differentiated merchandise assortment and the service excellence they have come to expect.”
eToys.com was one of the most high profile members of the dot com boom. It raised over $100 million in venture capital, at its height was valued at $8 billion and went bankrupt for the first time in March 2001. (The Industry Standard has a great history of eToys.com for anyone wanting to indulge in a trip down memory lane…)
