A funny thing happened on the way to our email inbox today--we were sent a link to a naked image of Virgin mogul Richard Branson. No, not an actual nude photo, but an illustration of a boxer-clad Branson along with dress-up doll accessories awaiting placement on a site called Cartoon Doll Emporium.
After digging around a bit we also found "dolls" of Digg founder Kevin Rose, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. The company, founded by New York-based Evan Bailyn, also claims to have 4 million unique visitors, 90 million page views, and 2 billion hits each month. In terms of revenue model, the main site is free with advertisements featured, but in order to join the CDE Fan Club and fully participate kids need an adult credit card to pay a registration fee of $6.99 per month. What's odd about all this is that the site calls itself "the #1 online destination for girls ages 6-16" and says its greatest inspiration is Walt Disney. So either the folks at CDE are (successfully) link baiting us with Silicon Valley blog treats, or girls 6-16 have "really" changed since we were teenagers.
