Sunday, June 23, 2019

*NEWS* Mattel Rejects Merger Deal from MGA Entertainment

Last week I saw a report on Mattel turning down the merger deal from MGA Entertainment. MGA Entertainment is the maker of Bratz Dolls, LOL Surprise, and Little Tikes.  According to CNBC (article link below) the merger would have made MGA Entertainment founder and CEO, Isaac Larian, Mattel’s chairman and CEO. Some time in May MGA Entertainment made a merger offer, and in June Mattel rejected the offer.  

LADL Instgram post on the new payment method on AG, Affirm, caught my attention,  because the new payment offer is probably meant to attract more buyers, and more sales/revenue. AG’s sales number have been decreasing, but is Mattel also in a bad way? This is what Isaac Larian, founder and CEO of MGA Entertainment, had to say after the offer was rejected.

 LA Times  “ He made his initial overture a year ago and contends Mattel’s problems have worsened since then.” 


CNBC  (June 13th) 
  • MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian said on CNBC’s Closing Bell that toymaker Mattel will be bankrupt “shortly, within a year or so” after the company rejected MGA’s takeover.
  • “They have nobody from the toy business on that board except one guy who ran a company called Top Toys in Denmark, and Top Toys went into complete liquidation,” Larian said.
Fox Business  (June 19th) 

  • MGA Entertainment’s CEO is no longer interested in merging with Mattel — saying there’s “too much mess to clean up” after the toymaker rejected his offer to take over the company earlier this month
  • Larian initially said he was still considering other options to acquire Mattel. However, this week he said he believes Mattel “cannot be salvaged at this point and most certainly not under the current, hostile board and management.”
  • Isaac Larian, the founder and CEO of MGA, said in a statement he believes Mattel is in too much debt and has operating expenses that are too high. He also said Mattel faces a major legal liability for selling a Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper “for years even as multiple baby fatalities occurred.” Fisher-Price recalled the product in April.

When searching for information on Mattel and MGA Entertainment, I found an article from January 2010 about the case brought to court, Mattel vs. MGA Entertainment about the  Bratz Dolls

2 comments:

  1. Interesting. Makes you wonder what Mattel thinks it has up its sleeve.

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  2. Considering the tone and language used by MGA it makes me think they are responding sour grapes. As I have never been a fan of the Bratz dolls, I am not saddened by the non-merger (it could also be because I am tired of my bank merging with others). I hope they have some great things up their sleeve; Mattel has been around for such a long time...

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