How much is the Mattel company worth?
BTS (band)
In the beginning of 2019 it was reported they have a combined net worth of over US$60 million. When their partnership with Mattel was announced in 2019, the company's stocks raised more than 8% within a day.
Barbie Basics
To promote the line in Australia, Mattel enlisted renowned Australian jeweler Stefano Canturi to create a one-of-a-kind doll. Canturi collaborated with the Barbie design team to create the world’s most expensive Barbie doll. Valued at A$600,000, the doll debuted in Sydney, Australia in conjunction to the Australian Fashion Week. The doll was decorated with a diamond choker with a rare pink diamond as its centerpiece.
Mattel
On July 2016, NBCUniversal announced Mattel acquired the license to produce toys based on the "Jurassic Park" franchise after Hasbro's rights expire in 2017.
Playworks (organization)
On November 29, 2011, Mattel announced a national partnership with Playworks to "ensure underprivileged children have the access, tools and ability to enjoy the benefits of play." Over a two-year period, Mattel will give more than $1 million from the Mattel Children's Foundation to Playworks.
Mattel
Mattel Creations was formed in March 2016 to bring all three of Mattel's content production units, including the American Girl creative team in Middleton, Wisconsin, under its aegis. Mattel chief content officer Catherine Balsam-Schwaber was named to head the unit. While, Christopher Keenan was moved up out of HiT Entertainment to be Creations' Senior Vice President of content development & production. Two pacts with DHX Media and 9 Story Media Group were placed into Mattel Creations. The DHX partnership with Mattel included HiT properties (Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam) and direct Mattel properties (Little People and Polly Pocket). The partnership included new multi-platform content development and production and distribution of the new and existing content. 9 Story deal was directly with HiT for 2017 revivals of "Barney & Friends" and "Angelina Ballerina", but as no new information on either revival has been provided since the initial announcement, its unknown when or even if they will ever air.
Patricia Matte
As of October 2015, "Forbes" estimated her net worth at US$2.8 billion.
Uno (card game)
In March 2013, it was announced that Mattel and The Gurin Company are teaming up to create a game show based on UNO where contestants will match colors, numbers and wits for a shot at a big cash prize. The show would be produced as a half-hour daily strip with a $100,000 cash jackpot along with a primetime version in which contestants competed for 1 million dollars. However, the idea was scrapped later on.
Max Steel
In 2013 Mattel finished its relationship with Mainframe, (now known as Rainmaker Animation), and decided to reboot the TV series after 13 years. As part of this decision, Playground Productions, Nerd Corps Entertainment and FremantleMedia Kids & Entertainment created a completely different origin story, and Mattel produced new toys based on the new designs, notoriously different from the original ones. The most notable change was the drop of toy's clothes and wearable accessories. While the original action figures came with fabric made vest and pants and detachable or snap-on accessories, -thus allowing to undress or dress up the figures with additional gear-, the new ones had no clothes at all, and all their features were directly molded onto the figures surface. This also allowed Mattel to cut down the cost of production of the action figures. The new figures also lacked of spring, sound or light features, which were not included until 2015, but in limited figures only.
WWF Hasbro action figures
In 2016, Mattel announced that they would be releasing their own line of "throwback" WWE action figures, similar to the iconic style and packaging of the WWF Hasbro series. Mattel's new line of action figures were released exclusively to Walmart stores in the U.S. Mattel's WWE latest collectibles are deemed "retro" by the company because they are packaged in the same fashion as action figures made in the 1990s.
Chatty Cathy
In 1984, Mattel introduced Chatty Patty, which also had a different look from the other Chatty dolls, and it too had painted eyes. Mattel released special editions of Chatty Cathy in 1998 and 2001. These dolls were made to resemble the 1960 version of Chatty Cathy, with go to sleep "life like decal eyes." They were sold only at speciality doll and toy stores and priced starting at $99.
Mattel
Voss left the division in January 2016 for subscription service, Loot Crate. In March 2016, PGP was placed within Mattel Creations along with the other two Mattel content production units. After failure of the Max Steel movie in 2016, Playground Productions was absorbed into Mattel Creations.
On September 6, 2018, Mattel announced the launch of a film division, Mattel Films, that will make movies based on the company’s toy brands. Robbie Brenner was appointed to head the division as executive producer and will report directly to the CEO. The revived division's first two projects are expect to be Barbie and Masters of the Universe films. In early January 2019, Mattel closed the deal with Margot Robbie to star in the Barbie film and Warner and Robbie's production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, to co-produce the film. Mattel Films and Sony revive Master of the Universe film development in January 2019 with many of the prior attempt's director and producers while bringing on board different writers, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.
Monogram (company)
In 1984 Mattel divested itself of many companies not associated with its traditional toy industries (Funding Universe website). In 1986, Monogram was bought by Odyssey Partners of New York. Later that same summer, Odyssey purchased Revell Models of Venice, California. Subsequently, Odyssey Partners merged Revell with Monogram and moved all its usable assets to Monogram's Des Plaines, Illinois Plant Number 2. After Revell was merged with Monogram, company headquarters was moved a short distance to Northbrook, Illinois.
List of Mattel games
List of games and video games from American toy company Mattel.
SoftKey
Mattel bought in with great enthusiasm at the top of the market in 1999 at US$3.65B, but ultimately found itself losing money with 467 software titles. This acquisition was intended to broaden Mattel's product line and help Mattel sell more products that appeal to boys, but TLC began reporting unexpected losses before the deal was even completed. The deal was supposed to immediately add $50 million annually to Mattel's bottom line. The company instead lost $82.4 million in that fiscal year because of a number of problems with the acquisition, including a loss of a key distribution deal and a high return of unsold products from retailers. In October, Mattel announced that its earnings would fall well below expectations, prompting the departure one month later of TLC's O'Leary and another founder. Mattel ultimately sold the company to The Gores Group, LLC, (GTG) for a share of future profits. GTG said of TLC's business structure, "[it] was a textbook example of a business built mostly by cobbled-together acquisitions, which were then purchased by a larger company with little idea of how to make the pieces fit together." Said James Bailey, President of GTG, "there were seven separate Internet initiatives, all run by different people. Some of these people had never met each other, even though they worked in the same building." In 2001, Gores sold The Learning Company's entertainment holdings to Ubisoft, and most of the other holdings to Irish company Riverdeep.
Imaginext
The Imaginext System is a brand of role-playing, adventure toys designed for kids 3 or older made by Mattel, as part of their Fisher-Price brand.
Mattel
With Balsam-Schwaber taking the general manager position at Craftsy, Mattel president and chief operating officer Richard Dickson has taken over responsibility for Mattel Creation and was not planning to fill the chief creative officer post. However, between the failure of the Max Steel movie and the announcement of Mattel Films in September 2018, Playground Productions was absorbed into Mattel Creations.
Mega Brands
On February 28, 2014, it was announced that Mattel, Inc. would acquire Mega Brands Inc. for approximately US$450 million. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel as of April 20, 2014. Prior to the purchase, Mega and Mattel were partners in adding Mattel brands to Mega "Worlds" plus a line for Mattel's American Girl that competes with Lego's Friends line.
MGA Entertainment
Due to a technical procedural issue having nothing to do with the merits of the claims, the Ninth circuit vacated without prejudice the $170 million judgment against Mattel for this misconduct. On January 13, 2014, MGA filed a complaint for these claims in State court in California seeking in excess of $1 billion, and this lawsuit is currently pending.
Intellivision
Former Mattel Electronics Senior Vice President of Marketing, Terrence Valeski, understood that although losses were huge, the demand for video games increased in 1983. Valeski found investors and purchased the rights to Intellivision, the games, and inventory from Mattel. A new company, Intellivision Inc, was formed and by the end of 1984 Valeski bought out the other investors and changed the name to INTV Corporation. They continued to supply the large toy stores and sold games through direct mail order. At first they sold the existing inventory of games and Intellivision II systems. When the inventory of games sold out they produced more, but without the Mattel name or unnecessary licenses on the printed materials. To lower costs, the boxes, instructions, and overlays were produced at lower quality compared to Mattel.
Ánima Estudios
Ánima has signed Mattel as Global Master Toy partner for its new TV series, "Cleo & Cuquin". Mattel will produce and market toys across a variety of categories for the new brand. "Cleo & Cuquin" is a great opportunity for us to bring to life characters that not only appeal to today's preschoolers but also have nostalgia with parents in markets where Familia Telerin has strong heritage,” says Lauren DeFeo, vice president, Toy Box division, Mattel.
Maple Leaf Sports &amp; Entertainment
In 2003 an agreement was reached to restructure the company with Stavro selling his stake to Bell Globemedia for a reported $120–150-million after debt repayments, the other partners converting their debts into equity, and each partner getting a direct ownership stake in the newly renamed MLSE, with MLGH being dissolved. This left Teachers' as the controlling majority owners of MLSE with 58.4%, and minority partners Bell Globemedia (15.4%), TD Capital with (13.5%) and Tanenbaum, who took over as non-executive chairman, with 13%. Each owner of MLSE had a right of first refusal on any shares sold, in proportion to their ownership share. The same year MLSE was internally valued at over $1 billion by Teachers' in its annual report. In 2008 the Toronto Star reported that a valuation commissioned by the company concluded that the company was worth US$1.5 billion. On December 5, 2008 CTVglobemedia (the renamed Bell Globemedia) sold half of its 15.4% stake to Tanenbaum for $100 million, making Tanenbaum the second-largest stakeholder with 20.7%. The transaction valued the company at $1.2 billion. On August 20, 2009 Teachers' announced that it had agreed to purchase the remaining 7.7% stake in MLSE owned by CTVglobemedia, bumping their stake to 66%.
Mattel
In early 2010, HIT Entertainment licensed Thomas & Friends to Mattel for toys. Mattel agreed to purchase HiT Entertainment sans share of PBS Kids Sprout from Apax Partners group in October 2011 for $680 million. The sale/merger was completed on February 1, 2012, and HIT Entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel, managed under its Fisher-Price unit. In October 2013, Mattel launched its new in-house film studio, Playground Productions.
Terry Matthews
In 2000, he reacquired the Mitel PBX business and company name, taking it private. He has invested heavily ($600 million by 2006) in Mitel to turn it into a broadband communications company. The company has made significant investments in enterprise Voice over IP telephony technology. Mitel's manufacturing business was spun off as BreconRidge. The company acquired Intertel in April 2007. Mitel went public again in 2010. Mitel announced the purchase of Aastra Technologies in November 2013. Mitel announced the purchase of Mavenir Systems in March 2015. Mitel announced the purchase of Polycom in April 2016, however, the deal fell through and Polycom instead merged with private equity firm Siris Capital Group. In July 2017, Mitel announced they had reached a deal to buy ShoreTel for $430 million, increasing the size of the company to 4,200 employees. On April 24, 2018, the company announced it would be bought by an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners.Additionally, Matthews serves on the board of directors for a number of high tech companies including Solace (formerly Solace Systems), and chairs CounterPath Corporation and Benbria Corporation.
Mattel Inc v 3894207 Canada Inc
Barbie's restaurant, a Montreal chain of "bar-and-grill" type restaurants catering primarily to adults, applied to register the trade-mark "Barbie’s" and an associated design with respect to "restaurant services, take-out services, catering and banquet services." Mattel Inc. owns the "Barbie" trade-mark, and has a worldwide reputation for Barbie dolls and accessories targeted primarily at girls aged 3 to 11 years old. Mattel Inc. opposed the application to register "Barbie’s" restaurant on the basis that it would cause confusion in the marketplace. The applicant had the burden of satisfying the Trade-marks Opposition Board of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office that if "Barbie’s" restaurant and Mattel's "Barbie" were used in the same geographic area there would be no confusion in the marketplace. The Trade-marks Opposition Board rejected Mattel's opposition and allowed the registration, finding that the applicant's trade-mark, "Barbie’s", was not likely to be confused with Mattel's Barbie trade-mark. The Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal both upheld the Trade-marks Opposition Board's decision. Mattel Inc. appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Mattel
Mattel earned the first grant for Disney Princess doll licenses in 2000. In December 2000, Mattel sued the band Aqua, saying their song "Barbie Girl" violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a "blonde bimbo." The lawsuit was rejected in 2002.
MatlinPatterson
MatlinPatterson’s distressed business pursues illiquid control and activist non-control investment strategies, as well as a range of liquid trading strategies.
The firm’s control strategies are characterized by its controlling or active participation in distressed companies and their restructurings require a long-term investment outlook. Since 1994, MatlinPatterson and its predecessor entities have invested over $8 billion across 66 control investments.
MatlinPatterson’s liquid trading strategies seek to generate profits from changes in the price of securities or claims, with the firm remaining largely uninvolved in a restructuring process or distressed company. Since 1994, MatlinPatterson and its predecessor entities have invested approximately $6 billion across 380 passive and active non-control strategies.
In July 2009, MatlinPatterson—which acquired Nortel bonds after the company filed for bankruptcy, becoming one of Nortel's largest bondholders—participated in the auction for Nortel's CDMA and LTE wireless assets. Ericsson ultimately outbid NokiaSiemens and MatlinPatterson, paying almost double the initial "stalking horse" bid of $650 million.
Mattel
Arthur S. Spear, a Mattel vice president, took control of the company in 1975, who returned the company to profitability in 1977. Ruth Handler sold her stock in 1980.
ArcelorMittal
Lakshmi Mittal (owner of Mittal Steel) is the chairman and CEO. His family owns 40% of the shares and voting shares in the company. After a $3 billion rights issue earlier in April 2016, the company by 21 April 2016 had a share value of 16,616 million euros, distributed in 3,065,710,869 shares.
Purple Moon
The company folded in spring of 1999 and was bought out by Mattel, creators of Barbie, one of the most famous and well-known franchises aimed at young girls. Mattel kept Purple Moon's website running for a while but did not develop any further products.
Ynon Kreiz
In April 2018, Kreiz became CEO of Mattel, replacing Margo Georgiadis, after a year of continued weak sales. A director on Mattel's board since June 2017, he will become board chairman in May 2018.
Alltel
On May 20, 2007, Alltel announced an agreement to be sold to two private-equity firms: TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners. Under the deal, the two firms paid $71.50 a share in cash, or $27.5 billion, a 10% premium over Alltel's May 18, 2007 closing price.
Barbie
Louis Marx and Company sued Mattel in March 1961. After licensing Lilli, they claimed that Mattel had “infringed on Greiner & Hausser's patent for Bild-Lilli’s hip joint, and also claimed that Barbie was "a direct take-off and copy" of Bild-Lilli. The company additionally claimed that Mattel "falsely and misleadingly represented itself as having originated the design". Mattel counter-claimed and the case was settled out of court in 1963. In 1964, Mattel bought Greiner & Hausser's copyright and patent rights for the Bild-Lilli doll for $21,600.
Intellivision
In 1982, with new machines introduced by competitors, Mattel marketing wanted to bring an upgraded system to market sooner. The "Intellivision III" was to be an upgraded but backward compatible system; based on a similar CP1610 processor and with an improved graphics STIC chip producing double the resolution with more sprites and colors. The Intellivision III existed in the lab and a new EXEC was written for it but little else. It was cancelled in mid-1983. A Mattel document called "Target Specification Intellivision III" has the following.According to the company's 1982 10-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mattel had almost 20% of the domestic video-game market. Although the Atari 2600 had more third-party development, "Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games" reported after visiting the summer 1982 Consumer Electronics Show that "The momentum is tremendous". Activision and Imagic began releasing games for the Intellivision, as did hardware rival Coleco. Mattel created "M Network" branded games for Atari's system. The company's advertisement budget increased to over $20 million for the year. In its October 1982 stockholders' report Mattel announced that "Electronics" had, so far that year, posted a nearly $100 million profit on nearly $500 million sales; a threefold increase over October 1981.
Mattel
The Mattel Electronics line debuted in 1977 with an all-electronic handheld game. The success of the handheld led to the expansion of the line with game console then the line becoming its own corporation in 1982. Mattel Electronics forced Mattel to take a $394 million loss in 1983 and almost filed for bankruptcy.
Bratz
On December 3, 2008, U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson granted a permanent injunction requested by Mattel against MGA. Subsequently, on December 10, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted MGA an immediate stay of the injunction, thereby halting the impending recall of all Bratz products, ensuring that retailers would be allowed to continue to sell MGA-produced Bratz product through at least the Court's final ruling on the matter. In their initial statement, the Court suggested Larson's previous ruling was "draconian" and had gone too far in awarding ownership of the entire Bratz franchise to Mattel. The Court of Appeals also ordered MGA and Mattel to resolve their dispute out of court. In a statement from MGA, Isaac Larian states that "the Court's stay is good news for all Bratz fans and for anyone who cares about fair competition."
My Scene
On April 13, 2005, Mattel's competing toy company, MGA Entertainment filed a lawsuit against My Scene, alleging duplication of its Bratz dolls, their multi-ethnic looks, fashions and packaging. The suit further accuses Mattel of "engaging in acts of unfair competition and intellectual property infringement intended to damage its market share, confuse consumers and trade on the company's goodwill." Later in 2006, Mattel sued MGA Entertainment, alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz in 1999, and had taken the idea to MGA secretly. MGA developed the first-generation fashion dolls while obscuring Bryant’s involvement. The MGA toy makers sought 1 billion dollars in damages testifying that Mattel violated antitrust laws.
Ruth Handler
In 1974, Handler resigned from Mattel after investigations of producing fraudulent financial reports. In 1978, Handler was charged with fraud and false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. She pleaded no contest, was fined $57,000 and sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service. She blamed her illness for making her "unfocused" on her business.
Mattel
Mattel Creations is the content production division of Mattel, Inc. The division is head by Mattel's president & chief operating officer Richard Dickson and consists of HIT Entertainment and the American Girl content creation team in Middleton, Wisconsin.
Invitel
In line with the customary practice in the telecommunications industry, "Magyar Telecom B.V." (Matel), a wholly owned subsidiary of MEP, 100% directly owned by Invitel, was issued and refinanced at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 2004 to finance the Invitel Group. In 2013, Matel transformed the Group's capital structure to create a long-term sustainable financing structure for its optimal operation.
Ynon Kreiz
Ynon Kreiz is an American-Israeli businessman and current CEO of Mattel He served as Chairman and CEO of Fox Kids Europe from 1997-2002, Chairman and CEO of television and digital production company Endemol from 2008 to 2011, and as Chairman, CEO and President of web video network Maker Studios, Inc. from 2012 to 2016.
Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc.
Toy manufacturer Mattel was sued by its landlord Hall Street Associates in a dispute over a property lease, the property being a former View-Master factory in Beaverton, Oregon. After the litigation went to federal court, both parties agreed to resolve the case by arbitration according to the procedures outlined in the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Atypically, the parties' arbitration agreement stipulated that the District Court could override the arbitrator's decision if "the arbitrator's conclusions of law are erroneous." That provision of the agreement granted the federal courts a much broader role in supervising the arbitration than is specifically granted in the Act, which explicitly mentions only a narrow set of circumstances under which courts can override an arbitration award, such as corruption, partiality, or misbehavior on the part of the arbitrator.
Wattyl
Wattyl was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 1959, trades under the code WYL and is in the S&P/ASX 300 Index. Wattyl currently employs over 1500 people in Australia and New Zealand. On 25 May 2010, it was announced that the American company, Valspar, was in talks to buy out Wattyl. This deal was finalized in late June 2010, this deal valued the company at $142 million.
Mattel
The company went public in 1960, and the New York Stock Exchange listed them in 1963. Mattel also acquired a number of companies during the 1960s (see table). In 1965, the company built on its success with the Chatty Cathy doll to introduce the See 'n Say talking toy, spawning a line of products. They released Hot Wheels to the market on May 18, 1968. In May 1970, Mattel formed a joint venture film production company Radnitz/Mattel Productions with producer Robert B. Radnitz, and later entered a multimillion-dollar partnership with Mehra Entertainment, whose CEO, Dr. Nishpeksh Padmamohan Mehra, is one of Mattel's Inc.'s main directors for Barbie (film series).
Margo Georgiadis
Margaret Georgiadis was appointed CEO of Mattel Inc. in January 2017. She took on the role on February 8, 2017 from Christopher A. Sinclair, who became Executive Chairman of the toy maker, making her the second woman ever to hold this position at the company. According to Piper Jaffray analyst Stephanie Wissink, Georgiadis was selected for CEO (and member of the Board of Directors) in the hope of bringing “a fresh perspective on enterprise alignment and a female voice at the helm does reinvigorate the potential for a dramatic modernization of the Mattel operating model.” With this new position, the Fortune 500 company list of female executives increased to 28.
Intellivision
At the June 1983 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Mattel Electronics had the opportunity to show off all their new products. The response was underwhelming. Amidst massive losses top management was replaced. On July 12, 1983, Mattel Electronics President Josh Denham was replaced with outsider Mack Morris. Morris brought in former Mattel Electronics president and marketing director Jeff Rochlis as a consultant and all projects were under review. The Intellivision III was cancelled and then all new hardware development was stopped when 660 jobs were cut on August 4. The price of the Intellivision II (which launched at $150 earlier that year) was lowered to $69, Mattel Electronics was to be a software company. However, by October 1983 "Electronics"' losses were over $280 million and one third of the programming staff were laid off. In November another third were gone, and on January 20, 1984 the remaining programming staff were laid-off. The Taiwan and French offices continued a little while longer due to contract and legal obligations. On February 4, 1984 Mattel sold the Intellivision business for $20 million. In 1983. 750,000 Intellivision Master Components were sold, more than three million units from 1980 to 1983.
Mattel
Mattel purchased The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1971 for $40 million from the Feld family, whom Mattel kept as management. Mattel sold the circus corporation by December 1973, despite its profit contributions, as Mattel showed a $29.9 million loss in 1972.
Tickle Me Elmo
TMX and other toys helped Mattel's earnings for the third quarter of the 2006 financial year to grow by six percent and beat the expectations of financial analysts. TMX also helped increase sales of other Elmo toys.
Tyco Toys
When Tyco was purchased by Mattel on March 27, 1997, it was the third largest toy company in the United States. The brand survived into the early 2010s as the Mattel Tyco R/C division, while much of the "Sesame Street" line, Magna Doodle, and the View-Master were transferred to the Fisher-Price division.
Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price is an American company that produces educational toys for children and infants, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. Fisher-Price has been a subsidiary of Mattel since 1993.
Motive, Inc
On June 17, 2008, Alcatel-Lucent announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Motive through a cash tender offer for all outstanding Motive shares at a price of US$2.23 per share, representing a value of approximately $67.8 million.
Robert A. Eckert
In 2000, Eckert joined Mattel as chairman and CEO, and remained as CEO until December 2011. He retired at the end of 2011, and was succeeded by Bryan G. Stockton who had been chief operating officer and chairman until December 2012.
David O. Carter
Carter presided over a $500 million lawsuit between MGA Entertainment and Mattel over the origins and ownership of the Bratz line of fashion dolls. Ultimately, Mattel was ordered to pay $137 million in attorney's fees and costs.
Kevin O'Leary
O'Leary co-founded SoftKey Software Products, a technology company that sold software geared toward family education and entertainment. During the late 1980s and 1990s, SoftKey acquired rival companies such as Compton's New Media, The Learning Company and Brøderbund. SoftKey later changed its name to The Learning Company, and was acquired by Mattel in 1999, with the sale making O'Leary a multimillionaire. O'Leary was soon fired by Mattel after the acquisition resulted in significant losses and multiple shareholder lawsuits.
Mattel Interactive
Mattel originally founded the company in 1995. The company's aim was to produce and publish CD-ROM based software based on Mattel properties like Hot Wheels and Barbie. Mattel Media later expanded to Video Games soon after, publishing titles like "Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver".
Matchbox (brand)
By 1992, Universal was also seeking a buyer. In May 1992, it sold the brand to Tyco Toys, the toy division of which was bought out in turn by Mattel in 1997, uniting Matchbox with its longtime rival Hot Wheels under the same corporate banner. Under Mattel, the name "Matchbox International Ltd." was terminated.
Jumbo Machinder
American toy company Mattel acquired the rights to release several Jumbo Machinder toys in North America and Europe under the "Shogun Warriors" banner. With the exception of "Dragun," the early versions of which were near identical to the original Japanese version, Mattel significantly modified the Jumbo Machinder toys that they released. Several, including Gaiking and Daimos, were completely re-designed from the ground up and differ significantly from their original Japanese counterparts. Jumbo Machinders re-branded as Shogun Warriors include:In 2010, Toynami revived the "Shogun Warriors" name with a new toy line, which consists of 24-inch (550 mm) Jumbo Machinder toys. The first two robots in this line are GoLion and Dairugger XV (both of which were adapted in the Western world as "Voltron").
Bluebird Toys
The company was acquired by the US toy giant Mattel in 1998.
ArcelorMittal
In 2015, the company had a net loss of $7.9 billion. Between February 2015 and February 2016, share value dropped 60%, making the company the "worst performer" in the FTSEurofirst300 index. The CEO said the company had performed poorly in 2015 due to "Chinese exports depressing prices." Early in 2016, the company announced it had raised $3 billion in new investment capital to help reduce debt to $11.7 billion of debt. In early 2016 the company also announced a program to boost core profit by $3 billion by 2020 "through a mixture of cost-cutting, increased production and a focus on higher-value forms of steel." Chairman Lakshmi Mittal announced doubled earnings the following year in May 2017. Along with the increase in capital, the company also sold its 35% stake in Gestamp Automacion for $979 million, with the goal of reducing ArcelorMittal's debt to less than $12 billion. By February 2016, the company made about 6% of the world's steel. It ranked 108th in the 2016 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's biggest corporations.
Merle Robbins
Today, the game is produced by toy giant Mattel in 80 countries and has sold 151 million copies worldwide.
Barbie
Mattel Inc. and MGA Entertainment Inc. returned to court on January 18, 2011 to renew their battle over who owns Bratz, which this time includes accusations from both companies that the other side stole trade secrets. On April 21, 2011, a federal jury returned a verdict supporting MGA. On August 5, 2011, Mattel was also ordered to pay MGA $310 million for attorney fees, stealing trade secrets, and false claims rather than the $88.5 million issued in April.
Mattel Aquarius
Looking to compete in the standalone computer market, Mattel Electronics turned to Radofin, the Hong Kong based manufacturer of their Intellivision consoles. Radofin had designed two computer systems. Internally they were known as "Checkers", and the more sophisticated "Chess". Mattel contracted for these to become the Aquarius and Aquarius II, respectively. Aquarius was announced in 1982 and finally released in June 1983, at a price of $160. Production ceased four months later because of poor sales. Mattel paid Radofin to take back the marketing rights, and four other companies—CEZAR Industries, CRIMAC Inc., New Era Incentives, Inc., and Bentley Industries—also marketed the unit and accessories for it. Bentley Industries (of Los Angeles) and New Era Incentives, Inc. (of St. Paul) are still in business, though they no longer have any affiliation with the Aquarius product line.
Matchbox (brand)
However, the main focus at Matchbox continued to be their smaller cars. Other brands, including Husky/Corgi Junior, Budgie, and Cigar Box, attempted to compete with Matchbox, but none were particularly successful until American toy giant Mattel introduced the revolutionary low-friction "racing" wheels on its Hot Wheels line of cars. These models, although less true to scale and often featuring fantasy vehicles, were attractive, painted in bright metallic colours and fitted with racing-style "mag" wheels and slick tires, and were marketed aggressively and with numerous accessory products, such as race track sets and the like. The Hot Wheels line often featured models that were decidedly American. In 1969, a second competitor based in the US, Johnny Lightning, entered the market, and the bottom effectively fell out of Lesney's US sales. At the same time, the other major market (the UK) was also under attack by competitors.
Bratz
Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million, alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz. On July 17, 2008, a federal jury ruled that Bryant had created the Bratz while he was working for Mattel, despite MGA's claim that Bryant had not been employed by Mattel at the time and Bryant's assertion that he had designed the Bratz between two separate periods of employment at Mattel. The jury also ruled that MGA and its Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by Bryant to Mattel. On August 26, the jury decided that Mattel was to be paid just US$100 million in damages, citing that only the first generation of Bratz had infringed on Mattel property and that MGA had innovated and evolved the product significantly enough that subsequent generations of Bratz could not be conclusively found to be infringing.
Intellivision
Complaints from consumers who had chosen to buy the Intellivision specifically on the promise of a "coming soon" personal-computer upgrade, eventually caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who started investigating Mattel Electronics for fraud and false advertising. In mid-1982 the FTC ordered Mattel to pay a monthly fine (said to be $10,000) until the promised computer upgrade was in full retail distribution. To protect themselves from the ongoing fines, the Keyboard Component was officially canceled in August 1982 and the Entertainment Computer System (ECS) module offered up in its place. Part of Mattel's settlement with the FTC involved offering to buy back all of the existing Keyboard Components from customers. Mattel provided a full refund but without a receipt paid $550 for the Keyboard Component, $60 for the BASIC cartridge, and $30 for each cassette software. Any customer who opted to keep theirs was required to sign a waiver with the understanding that no more software would be written for the system and absolved Mattel of any future responsibility for technical support. They were also compensated with $1000 worth of Mattel Electronics products.
Mates condoms
In 1988, a year after launch, Richard Branson sold the company and brand to Ansell for 1 million pounds. The condom division in Ansell, of which Mates was a part, was sold in 2017 to Humanwell Healthcare Group and CITIC Capital China Partners for 600 million dollars.
Mastercard
The company, which had been organized as a cooperative of banks, had an initial public offering on May 25, 2006, selling 95.5 million shares at $39 each. The stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol MA, with a market capitalization of $236.15 billion as of August 2016.
Playtex
In 1988 Playtex split into two companies, Playtex Apparel and Playtex Family Products, in a series of financial transactions totaling $1.3 billion. The transactions allowed Smilow to buy out other Playtex shareholders and put ownership of the brand into two separate investment groups that were owned by Smilow and other Playtex executives. In 1990 Playtex Products acquired cosmetics brand Maybelline for $300 million.($ in modern dollars). The next year Smilow sold Playtex Apparel to the Sara Lee Corporation, owner of the Bali and Hanes brands, for $571 million, ($ in modern dollars) but keeping the Playtex Family Products Corporation.
Feld Entertainment
Mattel purchased the company in 1971 for $50 million in Mattel stock while Feld continued managing the circus. After Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida in 1971, the circus company attempted to cash in on the resulting tourism surge by opening Circus World in nearby Haines City. Irvin & Kenneth Feld Productions in 1979 purchased from Chicago-based Bill Wirtz the Holiday on Ice and Ice Follies for $12 million. The company soon approached Disney about doing a Disney show on ice. By 1980, the company produced 10 circus and ice show TV specials. An investment was also made in "Barnum", the Broadway musical. In 1981, Ken Feld started the "Beyond Belief" show at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino.
The Learning Company
In the fall of 1998, Mattel agreed to acquire The Learning Company in a stock-for-stock merger valuing the company at approximately $4.2 billion.
Bratz
Mattel Inc. and MGA Entertainment Inc. returned to court on January 18, 2011 to renew their battle over who owns Bratz, which this time includes accusations from both companies that the other side stole trade secrets. On April 21, 2011, a federal jury returned a verdict supporting MGA. On August 5, 2011, Mattel was also ordered to pay MGA $310 million for attorney fees, stealing trade secrets, and false claims rather than the $88.5 million issued in April.
Entertainment Computer System
Eventually, complaints from Intellivision owners who had chosen to buy the Intellivision specifically on the promise of a "Coming Soon!" personal-computer upgrade caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which launched an investigation of Mattel Electronics for fraud and false advertising. Mattel tried to claim that the Keyboard Component was a real product that was still being test-marketed, and even released a small number of Keyboard Components and a handful of software titles to a few select retail stores (as well as offering them via mail-order to any customers who complained loudly enough) in order to support this claim. The FTC was not impressed and finally, in mid-1982, imposed a fine of $10,000 per day until the promised computer upgrade was in full retail distribution.
Children Affected by AIDS Foundation
Joe realized that he was being faced with a once in a lifetime opportunity to help make a difference in the world. The encouragement and support that he received from those at Mattel and throughout the children’s industry inspired him. That inspiration, along with an improvement in his health due to the advent of “HIV cocktail therapy”, convinced him to stay at Mattel and find a way to mobilize this network of diverse resources to make a positive difference in the lives of children affected by HIV/AIDS. Hence, the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation was born. Through Joe’s vision and leadership, the Foundation has raised more than $33 million since its inception. In 2007, Joe’s health again began to falter due to the long-term effects of HIV coupled with medication side effects, and it became necessary for him to go on an extended medical leave from Mattel. Joe now focuses all of his time and energy on taking care of his health and continuing to help children affected by HIV/AIDS. Mattel, Inc. continues to provide major funding and support to the Foundation.
Mitel
On April 22, 2010, Mitel became a public company, listed on Nasdaq with the symbol MITL, and its initial offering stood at $14 per share. Within a year, the stock price had dropped to $5.50 and was described by CNBC's Jim Cramer as one of the worst IPOs of the year. Cramer blamed excessively optimistic pricing, excessive debt and the fear that company insiders would sell, dropping the stock value.
Newbridge Networks
Newbridge was purchased and absorbed by Alcatel in late February 2000 for over $7 billion in stock. With this transaction, Matthews became the single largest shareholder in Alcatel.
Eftel
In 2013, Eftel was acquired by the rival M2 Group for approximately $44.1 million. The company and its former subsidiaries, including aaNet and ClubTelco now operate as brands of M2.
Fuhu
In November 2015, Bloomberg reported that Fuhu had cancelled Nabi shipments to Walmart, Target, Toys "R" Us and Best Buy amid a financial dispute with its hardware supplier, Foxconn. "Inc." later reported that Fuhu owed Foxconn between $60 million and $100 million, and the supplier had refused to ship any more tablets until payment was made. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 7, 2015, saying one of its lenders, Tennenbaum Capital Partners, had collected a debt of $6.5 million, leaving Fuhu with insufficient capital to continue operations. Toy maker Mattel tendered a stalking horse offer of $9.5 million for the company and eventually bought it at auction for $21.5 million.
Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels is a brand of die-cast toy cars introduced by American toy maker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then-owner of Matchbox.
Joel Matlin
In 1988 after Matlin had sold his interest in Frisco Bay Industries he founded AlarmForce Industries. As President and CEO he guided AlarmForce for 25 years to becoming the 3rd largest home alarm company in Canada and one of the top 20 in the USA. Matlin was instrumental in bringing AlarmForce public, initially on the Canadian Dealer Network and then having it listed in 1997 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Matlin directed the company from inception achieving a market cap of $135 million on his departure.
Louis Marx and Company
In 1955, with sales of $50 million, Marx spent a mere $312.00 on advertising for the entire year (Time Magazine, [month], 1955). By contrast, Mattel Toys in the same year had sales of $6 million but spent $500,000 for advertising, sponsoring shows like "The Mickey Mouse Club" (Clark 2007, p. 220). Eventually, the high cost of labor in the United States, always a factor in the distinctive quality of American toys, made it very difficult to compete with toys produced in Asia.
Bratz
The Ninth Circuit vacated without prejudice the $170 million judgment from 2008 against Mattel on procedural grounds in January 2013. On January 13, 2014, MGA filed a complaint in California state court, seeking in excess of $1 billion. This lawsuit is currently pending.
View-Master
In 1981, GAF sold View-Master to a group of investors headed by Arnold Thaler, and the company was reconstituted as the View-Master International Group.
VMI acquired the Ideal Toy Company in 1984 and became known as the View-Master Ideal Group; V-M Ideal in turn was purchased by Tyco Toys in 1989.
Tyco, including the View-Master Ideal Group, merged with Mattel Inc. in 1997. V-M was placed organizationally in Mattel's pre-school division and is now marketed under the Fisher-Price imprint, who continues emphasis on juvenile content.
Mixman
Mattel distributed the DM2 in retail chains like Toys-R-Us and Target. Over 200,000 units were manufactured and distributed in retail. When Mixman reformed as an independent company in 2002, Mattel had ceased development of their Apzu teen line, of which DM2 was the first product, and sold to Digital Blue with Mixman’s approval.
Dinky Toys
The "Dinky Collection" eventually was absorbed into a themed series offered by Matchbox Collectibles Inc, owned by the US giant Mattel – which portrayed little interest in any historical honoring of the Dinky brand. Mattel has preferred to occasionally re-badge normal Matchbox models with the Dinky name for some editions in certain markets. In some cases 1:43 scale models from the Matchbox era were sometimes given the Dinky name. No new "dedicated" Dinky castings have been created in the Mattel era since Matchbox Collectibles was shut down in 2000.
Viatel
Viatel was founded in 1991 by Martin Varsavsky. In 1994, it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Four years later, Varsavsky sold his stake in Viatel for US$200 million and left the company.
Turning Mecard
Outside South Korea, it is marketed and distributed by American company Mattel, which formed a partnership with Sonokong and acquired a 12% equity stake in the South Korean company in 2016.
Outside South Korea, Mattel is handling sales and distribution of Turning Mecard, as a result of a partnership deal the American company had with Sonokong in 2016; specifically, Choirock (Sonokong's multimedia production arm) granted a worldwide license of Turning Mecard to Mattel, and Mattel acquired a 12% equity stake in Sonokong, becoming the largest shareholder of the South Korean company.
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Mattel
Bratz
On July 22, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared that ownership of the Bratz franchise belonged to MGA Entertainment. The Court Of Appeals rejected the District Court's original ruling for Mattel, where MGA Entertainment was ordered to forfeit the entire Bratz brand—including all registered copyrights and trademarks of the Bratz name—to Mattel. The panel from the Court of Appeals said Judge Larson had abused his discretion with his ruling for Mattel, concluding that Bryant's employment agreement could have, but did not necessarily, cover ideas as it did designs, processes, computer programs, and formulae, which are all more concrete.
Mega Brands
Mega Brands Inc., formerly known as Mega Bloks Inc. and Ritvik Holdings, is a Canadian children's toy company currently owned by Mattel. Mega Bloks, a line of construction set toys, is its most popular product. Its other brands include Mega Construx, Mega Puzzles, Board Dudes and Rose Art. The company distributes a wide range of construction toys, puzzles, and craft-based products.
Eliodoro Matte
As of October 2015, "Forbes" estimated his net worth at US$2.7 billion.
The Lego Group
The Lego Group announced on 4 September 2017 its intention to cut 1,400 jobs following reduced revenue and profit in the first half of the year, the first reported decrease in 13 years. The revenue losses are due to a more competitive environment, where the company has to compete not only against its traditional competitors Mattel and Hasbro, but also against technology companies such as Sony or Microsoft as more children use mobile devices for entertainment. The job cuts account for 8 percent of the company's total work force.
Paktel
On January 22, 2007, Millicom International Cellular S.A. stated that it would sell its 88.86 percent stake in Paktel to China Mobile for $284 million, which includes the repayment of intercompany debt. The sale implies an enterprise value for Paktel of $460 million, Millicom said in its press release. Merrill Lynch advised China Mobile on the transaction.
Intellivision
Mattel Electronics built a state of the art voice processing lab to produce the phrases used in Intellivoice games. However, the amount of speech that could be compressed into an 8K or 12K cartridge and still leave room for a game was limited. Intellivoice cartridges "Space Spartans" and "B-17 Bomber" did sell about 300,000 copies each, priced a few dollars more than regular Intellivision cartridges. However, at $79 the Intellivoice did not sell as well as Mattel expected, and Intellivoices were later offered free with the purchase of a Master Component. In August 1983 the Intellivoice system was quietly phased out. A children's title called "Magic Carousel", and foreign language versions of "Space Spartans" were completed but shelved. Additional games "Woody Woodpecker" and "Space Shuttle" went unfinished with the voice recordings unused.
Fisher-Price
In 1991, Fisher-Price regained its independence from The Quaker Oats Company and became a publicly traded company. Two years later, in November 1993, Fisher-Price became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel. A new management group set the company’s focus on basic, infant and preschool products and began expansion into international markets. By 1997, Mattel decided to market all of its preschool products under the Fisher-Price name.
Microsoft
On July 20, 2012, Microsoft posted its first quarterly loss ever, despite earning record revenues for the quarter and fiscal year, with a net loss of $492 million due to a writedown related to the advertising company aQuantive, which had been acquired for $6.2 billion back in 2007. As of January 2014, Microsoft's market capitalization stood at $314B, making it the 8th largest company in the world by market capitalization. On November 14, 2014, Microsoft overtook Exxon Mobil to become the 2nd most valuable company by market capitalization, behind only Apple Inc. Its total market value was over $410B — with the stock price hitting $50.04 a share, the highest since early 2000. In 2015, Reuters reported that Microsoft Corp had earnings abroad of $76.4 billion which were untaxed by the IRS. Under U.S. law corporations don't pay income tax on overseas profits until the profits are brought into the United States.
In November, 2018, the company won a $480 million military contract with the U.S. government to bring AR headset tech into the weapon repertoires of American soldiers. The two-year contract may result in follow-on orders of more than 100,000 headsets according to documentation describing the bidding process. One of the contract's tag lines for the AR tech seems to be its ability to enable “25 bloodless battles before the 1st battle,” suggesting that actual combat training is going to be an essential aspect of the AR headset capabilities.
Suzanne Shaw
Shaw is the face and body of the Michelle for George Ultimo range at Asda. Shaw has done two advertising campaigns for the lingerie range and according to the British Press profits soared since she took over as the model. In 2008 Shaw wrote a weekly column for "Woman" Magazine which has a circulation of over 370,000 each week.
Shaw is also an ambassador of Mattel and the deal with Shaw is the first time that Mattel and Barbie DVD distributor Entertainment Rights have undertaken together.Shaw lent her powerful vocals to the theme tune "Connected" from 2008's "Barbie(TM) and the Diamond Castle" children's movie.
Shaw has brought out a successful perfume "Ice" and interactive family DVD "Suzanne Shaw's Showtime Showdown".
She is current face of Tesco Mobile as well as Disney for which she has launched the interactive games "Disney's Sing It" and "Disney's A Christmas Carol".
Mittal Steel Company
On 27 January 2006 it announced a $23.3 billion (€18.6 billion, £12.7 billion) bid for Arcelor. On 19 May 2006 Mittal increased its offer for Arcelor by 38.7% to $32.4bn, or $47.34 per share (€25.8bn, €37.74 per share). On 25 June 2006 Arcelor, in a board meeting announced that it has accepted a further sweetened offer ($50.68 or €40.4 per share) and the new company would now be called ArcelorMittal, thus successfully ending one of the most controversial and publicised takeover bids in modern corporate history. ArcelorMittal is now by far the largest steelmaker in the world by turnover as well as volume, controlling 10% of the total world steel output.
Matty Mattel
Matty Mattel was the boy mascot for Mattel Inc. Toymakers, as the "King of Toys", Matty was host and sponsor of TV's" Matty's Funday Funnies" in the 1960s. Matty was part of Mattel's advertising from 1955 to 1970 and then renewed in the 1980s, printed in Mattel warranty information.
Mattel Inc v 3894207 Canada Inc
Since Mattel's trade-mark has been widely publicized since the early 1960s, while "Barbie's" restaurant has only existed since 1992, Binnie determined that Mattel's trade-mark had deeper roots.
Gillette
In 1999, Gillette, as a company, was worth US$43 billion, and it was estimated that the brand value of Gillette was worth US$16 billion. This equated to 37% of the company's value, which was the same as DaimlerChrysler, one of the world's largest car manufacturers at the time.
Madeline (video game series)
The "Madeline" video game assets were passed around to various companies during the turn of the millennium. The Learning Company would be a subsidiary of Mattel's game division Mattel Interactive. After suffering significant losses, Mattel sold the assets of Mattel Interactive, including The Learning Company in 2000 at a loss to Gores Technology Group, a privately held international acquisition and management firm, for a share of what the firm could sell the assets for. In 2001, edutainment development company Riverdeep Group acquired the education assets of The Learning Company from Gores Technology Group for $40 million in stock, while assuming $20 million in liabilities as inter-company debt. By 2002, Encore Software, a privately held publisher of home entertainment and education, had acquired the exclusive publishing rights for the "Madeline" properties and re-released the software under its own brand name. In that same year, distribution company Navarre Corporation purchased Encore for $7 million in cash while acquiring $2.75 million in debt. Having worked with Encore since the company's inception in 1995, Navarre saw this as a "move to strengthen its position in the video game market." In 2006, Riverdeep acquired Houghton Mifflin, becoming Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group. In 2007, Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group bought Harcourt Education assets from Reed Elsevier for $4 billion, with the resulting company called Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is the current owner of the "Madeline" video game license while either Navarre Corporation holds the publishing rights or they reverted to HMH after the games went out of print. HMH has not attempted to resurrect the series, unlike other similarly acquired edutainment assets like Broderbund's Carmen Sandiego, which saw its latest release in 2015.
Lionel Pincus
Early investments included 20th Century Fox, Humana, and Warner, a company later acquired by Waste Management, Inc. In 1984, Warburg Pincus invested in Mattel, and Pincus joined its board of directors. By 2002, when Pincus ended his tenure as the hands-on leader of the company, it had overseen investments of more than $13 billion in over 450 companies in 29 countries.