GoToWorld Scraps Merger With 2TheMart

GoToWorld.com Inc., an Irvine communications and electronic commerce company, said Thursday that it has scrapped a proposed merger into another Irvine e-commerce company, 2TheMart.com Inc.

GoToWorld did not provide any details about why it withdrew from the deal. It said only that it gave notice of the termination last week to Steven Rebeil, 2TheMart’s chairman.

Last spring, 2TheMart had agreed to turn over an unspecified amount of cash to buy GoToWorld, an Internet site that pays members to surf and shop on the Web.

At the time, 2TheMart’s top two executives quit after its outside auditor resigned, citing a loss of confidence in management and a lack of adequate internal controls and management oversight.