With the news of Disney acquiring Club Penguin for a gigantic sum of $350 million dollars (and an additional $350 million if growth targets are met by 2009) analysts are now focusing their attention on Webkinz. Will Webkinz be the next Club Penguin or is the online virtual pet industry about to go bust.

The Club Penguin deal definitely reminds me of the dot com deals of the late 90ies. Huge dollars were being tossed around to anyone with a website. A good business model and the ability to make money was optional. It was all about potential. Even though Club Penguin makes money (there's a monthly fee to join, I think it's $5.95 or something and they already have 12 million members) $350 million dollar just sounds like too much money.

Source: Club Penguin got bought -- is Webkinz next?