<nettime> "BYE BYE eToys Inc - HELLO Goldman, Sachs & Co!"

[Reinhold Grether <Reinhold.Grether@uni-konstanz.de>]

dear customers & shareholders,


 "eToys underestimated the power of
 established brands"
 http://www.zdii.com/industry_list.asp?mode=news&doc_id=ZE507475&pic=Y


 WE ALL LOST A LOT OF CASH. BUT IT WAS
 HOPEFULLY WORTH IT. WE ALL LEARNED
 SOME IMPORTANT THINGS WHILE BURNING
 VENTURE CAPITAL (that's what it is here
 for - by definition. real VCs know that).

 COMPANIES COME AND GO - LIKE FALSE
 FRIENDS.

 the days of the pioneers are gone.
 the etoy.AGENTS are not shocking old
 ladies with orange jackets and bald
 heads on the data-highway and you pro-
 bably don't work with photoshop 2.1
 anymore. we all face the wind of change.
 it's just another paradigm shift:

 the simple minded dot-coms go out of
 business. the next bubble will grow and
 burst. that's life. who is against bubbles?
 the net is still the most exciting market
 place. etoy enjoys being digitally
 connected with a growing audience: the car
 dealer is there, the butcher, the
 prostitute, the broker, the professor
 and you. its a good moment to make this
 point as many pioneers just ride the next
 wave and complain about e-commerce and
 the disappointment after "the hype". what
 does it mean? the end of the electronic age?
 no. its just another crack in the chart.

 the etoy.CORPORATION is about to hook up
 its first server on this rusty platform
 in the north sea that is an independent
 country - SEALAND - a real challenge in
 a world of power & politics. the SHARE-
 HOLDERS from five continents just had
 their first online etoy.GENERAL-MEETING
 including a secure voting & the distri-
 bution of etoy.DIVIDENDS.

 maybe not that spectacular but a huge
 conceptual step. participation is no
 longer reduced to investments and
 resistance: the shares now vote on the
 future of art. possible only on the net.
 that's the big difference to funny
 business art in the 80's: etoy.SHARES
 matter. etoy.SHARES affect global systems.
 the show must go on - on another level
 and more twisted than ever before.

 the real impact of the networked world
 just started. the masses make the
 difference, not a hand full of pioneers.
 make up your mind again and watch your
 credit card. life changes. resistance
 changes...everybody heard it:

 http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/02/05/davos_hack010205

 we don't support such actions
 (etoy.DISCLAIMER: etoy was, is and
 always will be against any kind of
 illegal operation, violence and unmoral
 behaviour!). but we believe in the
 relevance of the electronic playground
 and reject the depression about the net.
 TCP/IP is not video is not limited in
 time and space. the applications live
 and adapt.

 against some statements from the "culture
 press" etoy does not "play TOYWAR II
 because it run out of ideas" but tries
 to sort out some heavy problems with the
 old dogs in the market before we all move
 a step further. that's why etoy informed
 business wire and reuters about the
 lawsuit against eToys Inc. (and not the
 common press). 259 major etoy.INVESTORS
 voted to authorize the etoy.LAWYERS to
 "take all steps necessary" to terminate
 the time and money wasting problems etoy
 faced for more than one year and "to do
 this before a merger or sell out of the
 eToys assets (THE BRAND) takes place".

 www.etoy.com/tmlawsuit2001/

 don't complain - etoy moves forward and
 tries to infect the world. this is not
 possible if we have to care about our
 basic rights day by day. bills for legal
 defence and negotiations for more than
 75'000$ have been delivered to the
 etoy.TANKS during the last 4 months. that's
 simply enough. we offered many scenarios
 for peaceful co-existence. but the guys
 from Goldman, Sachs & Co. have a different
 vision: maximizing financial profits -
 not culture value!

 someone will sell toys under www.etoys.com
 next x-mas. and this someone will work
 with lawyers again.

 ok. etoy has priority. the etoy.LAWYERS
 did not stress this last year because we
 believed in co-existence and a deal. how
 naive! etoy could have done this a year
 ago and make millions. we did not do it
 because the etoy.SHAREHOLDERS are fair and
 reasonable business people. why wasting
 thousand jobs if a way can be found? etoy
 did not stress aggression. we think we
 proved this.

 eToys as we know it is part of history.
 but the brand will change hands. lets sort
 this out. once and for all. don't ask us
 why! toby & his friends know it better
 than anybody else. we tried. they turned
 us down.


 IT'S NOW OR NEVER... as the king sang.

 kisses from the etoy.MANAGEMENT
 & god bless NASDAQ.

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