Ecampus.com, the online college retailer founded by Wallace Wilkinson two years ago, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company also reported that Book Acquisition has agreed to acquire the online retailer, provided it is the highest bidder in an auction tentatively set for July 12.
Book Acquisition is a company newly formed by George Valassis, a Deerfield, Mich., investor who has already loaned $81 million to Wilkinson personally while also investing $2.1 million in ecampus.com. Book Acquisition has offered to pay $750,000 for ecampus.com, plus $1.8 million for its assets.
Earlier this year, Wilkinson and two other companies he owns, Wallace's Bookstores and Wallace's Book Co., all filed for bankruptcy. Wilkinson has more than $400 million in personal debt, some of which he attributed to start-up costs for ecampus.com.
In its bankruptcy filing, ecampus listed assets of $33.2 million and debts of $9.5 million as of the beginning of the year. The company apparently spent all of the $90 million it had raised in venture capital financing and ran out of cash in March. Since then, ecampus has relied on a $1.2 million loan from Franklin Enterprises, which has promised to lend it another $925,000, enough to keep the company afloat for 45 days. Ecampus has also laid off most of its staff.
