Disney Offers to Buy Toysmart.com Customer List

Walt Disney Co. offered Tuesday to buy the customer list of its defunct online toy retailer, Toysmart.com, to ensure that it does not fall into the hands of another company seeking to exploit the personal data.

Waltham, Mass.-based Toysmart, which is majority-owned by Disney, shut down in May and has been seeking buyers for its assets, including its customer list.

But the Federal Trade Commission filed suit Monday to stop the sale because Toysmart’s Web site promised customers that their personal information “will never be shared with a third party.”

Disney, in a statement, said it was doing everything it could “to assure the confidentiality of Toysmart’s customer list.”

The Burbank media giant said it would retire the list if the Bankruptcy Court allows Disney to buy it. If not, Disney said it would urge the court to permit a sale only to a company that “will maintain the confidentiality of the information contained in the list.”

Disney purchased a 60% stake in Toysmart last summer for an estimated $40 million to $50 million.