By December 1999, after more than two years in business, eToys could only boast lifetime revenues of $51 million. That was about as good as the combined yearly sales of seven Toys “R” Us real-world stores—and Toys “R” Us had nearly 1,500 stores worldwide. No matter. eToys went public in May of 1999, selling 8,320,000 shares at $20 apiece. On the first day, the stock leapt to $85, before settling at $76, a 282% pop. eToys had a market capitalization of $7.6 billion, compared to Toys “R” Us’s $5 billion. Toby Lenk’s 7.36% share of the company was worth a cool $559 million.
