Robert Bonnier is back in town. Since resigning from troubled online directory company Scoot.com in June, little has been heard from the dot.com wunderkind - until now.

Yesterday, he appeared on the share register of former hi-tech darling Gameplay with a 9.8% holding.

Gameplay chief executive, Mark Bernstein, who is at present on a skiing holiday, said Mr Bonnier had not bothered to contact the company or its brokers, Peel Hunt, before he had started building his stake.

Mr Bonnier, who is now rumoured to be a Paris resident, could not be reached for comment yesterday but City gossips speculated that he might try to reverse a company into Gameplay.

After selling its loss-making core businesses to a management buyout team last year, Gameplay has been attempting to find buyers who might be interested in using it as a listed cash shell.

Gameplay shares, which at the height of the dot.com boom reached £10, closed 0.24p higher at 1.075p yesterday.