Heads of the nation's top four toy makers announced Thursday that they will launch a joint venture with Softbank Corp. to sell toys over the Internet beginning in November.

The four companies are Bandai Co., Epoch Co., Tomy Co. and Takara Co., each will have a 2.5 percent stake in the new company to be named e-Shopping! Toys Corp, capitalized with 200 million yen.

"I understand that the four companies have a market share of 65 percent in total. I think (the move) is an epoch-making event," said Masayoshi Son, president of Softbank Corp., an Internet-related business investor.

Softbank will own 52.5 percent while Happinet Corp., the nation's No. 1. toy wholesaler, will hold 17.5 percent of what will be the nation's first e-commerce firm specializing in toys.

Yahoo! Japan Corp. will own 10 percent, and Toy Card Co., a firm jointly set up by the toy industry to issue toy gift certificates, will own the remaining 10 percent, the firms said.

Consumers will place orders at a Web site, selecting from a database of 200,000 toy products excluding video game machines and software titles.

Payment can be settled either with a credit card over the Internet, or in advance at about 7,800 Seven-Eleven Japan Co. shops, the firms said.

Toys will be delivered by Yamato Transport Co. within two days if the product is in stock, Son said.

But the presidents of the four toy makers, attending the same news conference, declined to make any prediction on the new company's annual sales, apparently fearing friction with the existing intermediate distributors, who will all be bypassed in e-commerce transactions.

"The extent to which this business will grow is totally unknown now," said Bandai president Takeo Takasu. "The toy market excluding video games is shrinking. We need to arouse new demand for (traditional) toys," he said.

The leaders said the four firms joined forces to reinvigorate the industry, repeatedly stressing that the new company is not designed to destroy the current distribution system.