EB gobbles up Gameplay .. in Spain
Electronics Boutique buy's ailing dot.com's Spanish e-tail outfit
There was a glimmer of good news for failed dot.com Gameplay PLC today today, with news that they have successfully sold their Spanish boxed games division to high street chain Electronics Boutique for £3.4m. This is somewhat higher than the £1 (sic) that the UK boxed games division raised in a management buy-out that must have been paid for by hunting for loose change down the back of the sofa cushions.
Sadly it's all been too little too late though, with Reuters reporting that most of Gameplay PLC's remaining staff of 80 have now been laid off, with only a skeleton crew remaining onboard to prepare for the eventual sale of what is left of the dot.com to other companies. Shares were down again on the news, reaching another all-time low of under 3p. And there is still no report of any prospective buyers for the company's technology division, which includes popular online gaming service provider Wireplay, formerly part of British Telecom.