Amazon.com buys assets of Egghead.com

Online behemoth Amazon.com has bought some assets of Egghead.com, the now-defunct online cataloger of software and computer products, according to wire reports. Amazon purchased the assets for $6.1 million cash in bidding in a northern California bankruptcy court. The assets include the Egghead.com Website name, intellectual property, business documents, product information, and Website data. Egghead, which declared insolvency in August, had an estimated 3 million customers and expected revenue of $320 million-$350 million for 2001. The company had shut its print catalog and brick-and-mortar stores in 1998 to focus on selling online.

In other Amazon news, the Seattle-based company will no longer run its retro commercials featuring The Sweatermen, a chorus of sweater-clad men singing Amazon’s praises, which have run for the past two years. With the exception of a few 10-second spots following some NBC shows, Amazon says it’s not running any traditional TV ads this holiday season. Instead, the company is concentrating its marketing dollars on newspaper inserts, larger print catalogs, and even a tie-in with fast-food chain Burger King. The marketing changes follow a split last December between Amazon and ad agency FCB Worldwide, which produced the Sweatermen spots. Amazon’s new agency is Wieden & Kennedy.