Children’s book publisher and marketer Scholastic Corp., New York, has made a conditional $8 million bid for the inventory of failed Internet retailer eToys Inc. and is considering a bid for selected assets including Web-site technology. Its bid, part of the auction process in eToys’ bankruptcy proceedings, was reported to be the highest among more than 30 bidders.

A second auction is expected to take place Thursday when bidders have the opportunity to acquire ownership of the entire company or make individual bids on its distribution centers, computer hardware, software, office equipment and other items, according to a news report.

The disposition of Los Angeles, CA-based eToys customer file was unclear last night as bidding continued. As of Dec. 31, 2000, eToys had sold products to nearly three million customers, according to court documents.

The bid by Scholastic was placed as “Scholastic is evaluating potential value in the discount purchase of selected assets of eToys in the bankruptcy auction, particularly technology that may accelerate and reduce the costs of Scholastic’s own Web initiatives,” the company said in a statement.

The bid was conditional on the company also winning an auction this week for all the shares in the reorganized company, the report said.

EToys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware following its inability to secure a merger or acquisition deal. The company had said it would close its Web site after collapsing under a heavy debt load and a weak holiday selling season. Court papers listed the company’s assets at $416.9 million and debts of $285 million.

On March 2, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, purchased eToys BabyCenter Inc. operations for an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $10 million. The acquisition included three Web sites: www.babycenter.com, www.parentcenter.com and BabyCentre.co.uk.

The company was founded in 1996 by Toby Lenk, a former Walt Disney Co. executive, and never made a profit from its sales of toys, videos games, software, videos and music for children, the report said.

Children’s book publisher and marketer Scholastic Corp., New York, has made a conditional $8 million bid for the inventory of failed Internet retailer eToys Inc. Its bid was reported to be the highest among more than 30 bidders.

The bid was placed as part of the auction process in eToys’ bankruptcy proceedings.

“Scholastic is evaluating potential value in the discount purchase of selected assets of eToys in the bankruptcy auction, particularly technology that may accelerate and reduce the costs of Scholastic’s own Web initiatives,” the company said in a statement.

EToys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 7 and said it would close its Web site, collapsing under a heavy debt load and a weak holiday selling season.

The bid was conditional on the company also winning an auction this week for all the shares in the reorganized company, the report said.

The company was founded in 1996 by Toby Lenk, a former Walt Disney Co. executive, and never made a profit from its sales of toys, videos games, software, videos and music for children, the report said.