Old media reporting on Toys ‘R’ Us acquisition of eToys: FAIL.
I’ve been known to defend “old” media. Bloggers seem to think they can replace the old school media, but I disagree. How many blogger are on the ground in Iraq? Oh yeah, they’re just sitting behind their computers commenting on what the old media is reporting over there.
But I have to say the old media’s initial response to Toys ‘R’ Us’ acquisition of some of The Parent Company’s assets, including eToys.com, is a classic fail.
The wire services got a press release from Toys ‘R’ Us about the acquisition. The wire services and AP then summarized the press release and added some toy data before syndicating their articles. Each article I’ve read say “terms of the deal were not disclosed”.
Well, if these reporters had perhaps Googled “Toys R Us eToys”, they would have found Domain Name Wire’s article about the purchase (it was on the first page at the time). That article linked to the other article about the purchase price being $2.15M.
Or, since this was a bankruptcy purchase, they could have just looked up the bankruptcy documents. In case that’s too much work, here’s the final asset purchase agreement (pdf).
Perhaps the “terms weren’t disclosed” by Toys ‘R’ Us, but about 10 minutes of searching would have given the old media the answer.
Eric says
I agree that it’s embarrassing the AP couldn’t have found the sale price when it’s all over the place. The reporting on DNW and other new media sources was much more relevant.
However, credit to BusinessWeek for reporting the $25 million acquisition price on the Sendori deal by IAC/Ask.com, which was left out of every other report on that buyout.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Eric – I’d give Business Week credit for that if it were true. Unfortunately they have bad information.
wannadevelop.com says
Sendori acquired for $25m ???
Andrew Allemann says
No, it wasn’t $25M
wannadevelop.com says
So how much was it? $2.5m ??
I can’t find any info on the price that was paid.
Mike
Eric says
Ok then, you win. 2 strikes against old media.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Wanna Develop – I don’t know how much it was, but I have confirmation that it was NOT $25M. Even the acquisition date on BusinessWeek’s list is incorrect.
Domisfera says
Congratulations for this excellent and documented work.
Have you said something to Associated Press? 🙂
Andrew Allemann says
@ Domisfera – AP writers don’t include contact information in their articles. I suppose I could look it up, though. I guess learning that it’s “only” 2.15M would make it not much of a story to them.
John Colascione says
Continued excellent and impressive reporting at domainnamewire.com