Toysrus.com hits $23 million in third quarter

Toysrus.com reported net sales of $23 million for the third quarter compared with $5 million for the same period last year. "Our new co-branded Toysrus.com/Amazon.com web site is up and running well in time for the Holiday season, and we feel more confident than ever that combining our brand name and merchandising expertise with Amazon's proven Internet expertise and distribution capability will make us the long-term global leader for toys, children's and babies products on the Internet," John Eyler, president and CEO said. "Moreover, this alliance gave us the ability to substantially reduce the capital investment we would have had to make in our Internet infrastructure, and thereby allows us to reach profitability much faster than originally anticipated."

As a result of the transition to the co-branded site, Toysrus.com incurred non-recurring costs and charges totaling approximately $118 million, primarily relating to the closure of three distribution centers, the write off of site costs, other severance costs and costs associated with migrating data and merchandise to the new site and facilities. Overall, total sales for Toys R Us. Inc. were $2.2 billion in third quarter 2000 compared with $2.5 billion reported for the third quarter of 1999. For the first nine months of 2000, sales were $6.5 billion versus $6.8 billion in the same period last year The company reported a net loss of $65 million, or 32 cents per share for the third quarter of this year, compared with net earnings of $15 million, or 6 cents per share for the third quarter of 1999. Net earnings, were $153 million, or 70 cents per share for the first nine months of this year, compared with $44 million, or 18 cents per share for the first nine months of last year.