IS ETOYS WINDING DOWN? POOR SALES HURTING CASH-STRAPPED COMPANY.Byline: Jesse Jesse (jĕs`ē), in the Bible, the descendant of Rahab, the grandson of Boaz and Ruth, and the father of David. Referring to the restoration of the Davidic monarchy, the Book of Isaiah speaks of a shoot coming from the "stump of Jesse. Hiestand Staff Writer With competitive prices, loyal customers and fast-loading Web pages showing 100,000 toys and children's goods, eToys EToy or EToys may refer to:
Sales and new customers have risen steadily at the Los Angeles-based e-tailer, leading it to invest in two big distribution centers last year in anticipation of robust sales in a make-or-break holiday season. But lackluster lack·lus·ter adj. Lacking brightness, luster, or vitality; dull. See Synonyms at dull. Adj. 1. lackluster - lacking brilliance or vitality; "a dull lackluster life"; "a lusterless performance" sales, which plagued many retailers this season, added to the load that is breaking the back of eToys, a once-promising company that now estimates it will run out of cash by March 31. ``The only thing now is how are they going to exist in the market,'' said Jim Williamson, senior research analyst with IDC, a research company in Framingham, Mass. ``What would help them is another billion in cash and then maybe they'd be able to grow over time and get to profitability.'' EToys officials no longer estimate how long it would take to turn a profit, as they last did in the fall while moving into sprawling new offices and take control of their own distribution on the West and East coasts. EToys now has less than $60 million left, after losing $85.8 million in the quarter ending Dec. 31, even as sales rose 23 percent over the previous year. Its stock closed Friday at 25 cents, having traded at more than $21 a share in the past year. It had been hoping for at least $210 million in revenue in the quarter, but ended up with $130 million. EToys plans to cut 700 of its 1,000 employees by March 31 and, in an earnings report this week, noted ``there can be no assurance that additional capital will be available to the company on acceptable terms, or at all.'' Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street. & Co. has been hired to find an investor or buyer - or arrange an asset sale. ``Time's running out in the ballgame,'' said eToys spokesman Gary Gerdemann. ``We were never naive naive - Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or system; one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather than the right way (in really good designs these coincide, but most designs aren't "really good" in the appropriate sense). enough to believe it would be easy, but you can't anticipate the dramatic shift in sentiment the market demonstrated in the last year and a half.'' EToys is not alone among Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the companies failing to attract further venture capital, but its demise Death. A conveyance of property, usually of an interest in land. Originally meant a posthumous grant but has come to be applied commonly to a conveyance that is made for a definitive term, such as an estate for a term of years. would mark one of the biggest failures in the short history of Internet commerce. Selling toys is tough for any retailer, say analysts who note it's a low-margin business that is subject to the whims of consumer tastes and fads and typically thrives only in the fourth quarter. ``It makes it very hard to survive the other nine months when you're cash-strapped,'' Williamson said, adding that anyone trying to grow a billion-dollar, store-based toy empire overnight would likewise burn cash at a tremendous rate. Toysmart.com, an online toy store A toy store, or toy shop, is a retail business specializing in the services of selling toys. No longer held to the limitations of the brick and mortar outlet, the toy store has successfully created a presence within the e-commerce industry. backed by The Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co., closed in May. Toys 'R' Us, after disappointing online sales in late 1999, partnered with the Web's No. 1 retailer, Amazon.com, to make the most of the holiday season. ``You buy the toys very early in advance and have no idea which are going to be successes so you can never be right no matter how good you are,'' said Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Weinstein. There is still no guarantee customers will come, said David Schehr, research director of the Gartner marketing research firm in Stamford, Conn. EToys was not a household brand and two-thirds of consumers go to online retailers on others' recommendation or to sites run by established retail chains or catalogs, Schehr said. ``People still like the ability to return to a physical location and toys do demand a bit of that look and touch - that 'sniff test,' '' Schehr said. Another challenge is having the products people want, which eToys approached by positioning itself as a one-stop destination for not only toys but videos, games, music and books aimed at children. Toy analyst Melissa Williams of Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of suspects that eToys will be bought before it goes out of business, perhaps by one of the bigger, traditional toy sellers that would be looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a greater presence on the Internet. ``The basic problem is they've got their back against the wall as far as bargaining,'' Williams said. |
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