public company traded as nasdaq mat nasdaq 100 component s & p 500 component industry entertainment founded january 1945 ; 71 years ago 1945 01 el segundo california u.s. founder harold matson elliot handler ruth handler headquarters el segundo california u.s. key people christopher a. sinclair chairman and ceo products dolls toys games production output animation revenue us 6 023.8 million 2014 us 6 484.8 million 2013 1 operating income us 653.7 million 2014 us 1 168.1 million 2013 1 net income us 498 9 million 2014 us 903.9 million 2013 1 total assets us 6 722 0 million 2014 us 6 439 6 million 2013 1 total equity us 2 949 1 million 2014 us 3 251.5 million 2013 1 number of employees 31 000 2015 2 3 divisions mattel creations subsidiaries fisher price mega brands website mattel.com mattel inc. m t l is an american multinational toy manufacturing company founded in 1945 with headquarters in el segundo california . in 2014 it ranked 403 on the fortune 500 list . 4 the products and brands it produces include fisher price barbie dolls monster high dolls ever after high dolls winx club dolls hot wheels and matchbox toys masters of the universe toys american girl dolls board games and wwe toys . in the early 1980s mattel produced video game systems under both its own brands and under license from nintendo . the company has presence in 40 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations . 5 the company operates through three business segments north america international and american girl . 5 it is the world s largest toy maker in terms of revenue and market capitalization . 6 the company s name is derived from harold matt matson and elliot handler who founded the company in 1945 . contents 1 history 1.1 post handlers 2 mattel creations 2.1 creations background 2.2 creations history 2.3 playground productions 2.4 production 3 see also 4 notes 5 references 6 external links history edit mattel creations was founded in 1945 by harold matt matson and elliot handler . the company initially sold picture frames then dollhouse furniture . matson soon sold his share to handler due to poor health and handler s wife ruth took over matson s role . in 1947 the company had its first hit toy a ukulele called uke a doodle . the company was incorporated the next year in california . mattel became the first year round sponsor of the mickey mouse club tv series in 1955 . the barbie doll was introduced in 1959 becoming the company s best selling toy ever . in 1960 mattel introduced chatty cathy a talking doll that revolutionized the toy industry and a flood of pull string talking dolls and toys came on the market throughout the 1960s and 1970s . 7 acquisition year 7 dee & cee toy co. ltd. 1962 standard plastic products inc. 1966 hong kong industrial co. ltd. precision moulds ltd. rosebud dolls ltd. 1967 monogram models inc. 1968 a & a die casting company ratti vallensasca mebetoys ebiex s.a. 1969 h & h plastics co. inc. metaframe corp. the company went public in 1960 and was first listed on the new york stock exchange in 1963 . mattel also acquired a number of companies during the 1960s see table . 7 in 1965 the company built on its success with the chatty cathy doll to introduce the see n say talking toy which spawned a line of products . 8 hot wheels was first released to the market in 1968 . 7 in may 1970 mattel formed a joint venture film production company radnitz mattel productions with producer robert b. radnitz . 9 the ringling bros. and barnum & bailey circus was purchased by the mattel company in 1971 for 40 million from the feld family who was retained as management . 10 mattel had placed the circus corporation up for sale despite its profit contributions to mattel by december 1973 as mattel showed a 29.9 million loss in 1972 . 11 an investigation in 1974 concluded false and misleading financial reports had been issued and the handlers were forced from the company . 7 post handlers edit arthur s. spear a mattel vice president was selected to run the company in 1975 and led it back to profitability in 1977 . ruth handler sold back her stock in 1980 . 7 the mattel electronics line was started 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 . 12 mattel electronics forced mattel to take a 394 million loss in 1983 and almost filed for bankruptcy . 7 in 1979 through feld productions mattel purchased the holiday on ice and ice follies for 12 million . 13 also acquired that year was western publishing for 120 million in cash and stock . 14 the felds bought the circus and related companies back in 1982 for 22.8 million . 15 acquisition year s 7 ringling bros. and barnum & bailey circus feld productions 1971 1982 ice follies 1979 1982 holiday on ice western publishing 1979 international games 1992 16 corgi toys ltd. 1989 17 fisher price inc. 1993 tyco toys inc. 1997 pleasant company 1998 the learning company 1999 2000 new york venture capital firms e.m. warburg pincus & co. and drexel burnham lambert invested a couple hundred million in mattel in 1984 to help the company survive . but then the master of the universe action figure line sales dropped off causing a loss of 115 million in 1987 . chairman john w. amerman improved the company s financial performance in 1987 by focusing on core brands . mattel also returned to working with the disney company in 1988 . 7 mattel purchased fisher price inc. in 1993 tyco toys inc. in 1997 and pleasant company maker of the american girl brand in 1998 . 7 mattel purchased the learning company in 1999 for 3.5 billion but sold it in 2000 at a loss . the company had a 430.9 million net loss that year . 7 mattel was granted the first disney princess doll licenses in 2000 . 18 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 . 19 in 2002 mattel closed its last factory in the united states originally part of the fisher price division outsourcing production to china which began a chain of events that led to a scandal involving lead contamination . 20 on august 14 2007 mattel recalled over 18 million products . the new york times closely covered mattel s multiple recalls . 21 22 23 many of the products had exceeded the us limits set on surface coatings that contain lead . surface coatings can not exceed .06 % lead by weight . 24 additional recalls were because it was possible that some toys could pose a danger to children due to the use of strong magnets that could detach . mattel re wrote its policy on magnets finally issuing a recall in august 2007 . 25 the recall included 7.1 million polly pocket toys produced before november 2006 ; 600 000 barbie and tanner playsets ; 1 million doggie daycare ; shonen jump s one piece ; and thousands of batman manga toys due to exposed magnets . 25 in 2009 mattel would pay a 2.9 million fine to the consumer products safety commission for marketing importing and selling non compliant toys . 26 mattel was noted for its crisis response by several publications including prweek the los angeles times fortune and business management . 27 28 29 30 acquisition year s 7 hit entertainment 2012 mega brands 2014 in early 2010 hit entertainment licensed thomas & friends to mattel for toys . 31 mattel agreed to purchase hit entertainment sans sprout from apax partners group in october 2011 for 680 million . 31 32 the sale merger was completed on february 1 2012 and hit entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary of mattel 33 managed under its fisher price unit . 34 in october 2013 mattel launched its new in house film studio playground productions . 35 mattel was named by fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013 noting that only 1 292 positions were newly filled out of 164 045 job applications during the previous year as well as the fact that more than 1 000 employees have been with the company longer than 15 years . 36 on february 28 2014 mattel acquired mega brands . 37 on april 16 2015 mattel announced a partnership with invention platform quirky to crowd source a number of products . 38 mattel adding a barbie princess themed line in 2010 and the fair and fantasy store based ever after high in 2013 . barbie sales started to dropped in 2012 thus moving focus away from disney princess line . mattel was only putting out princesses cinderella ariel and belle plus the two frozen princesses during the last year or so of its license . with these competing lines and an expiration of the brand license at the end of 2015 disney gave hasbro a chance to gain the license given their work on star wars which led to a descendants license . dcp was also attempting to evolve the brand from one of them less as damsels and more as heroines . in september 2014 disney announced that hasbro would be the licensed doll maker for the disney princess line starting on january 1 2016 . in january 2015 ceo bryan stockton was replaced by board member chris sinclair . this was followed with 2 3 of senior executives resigning or being laid off . 18 mattel formed a new division mattel creations as an umbrella unit over its creative content units playground productions hit entertainment and the american girl content creation team in march 2016 . 39 on july 2016 nbcuniversal announced that mattel has acquired the license to produce toys based off the jurassic park franchise after hasbro s rights expire in 2017 . 40 mattel creations edit mattel creations type division of a public corporation industry entertainment founded 000000002016 03 01 0000march 2016 number of locations 3 2016 key people catherine balsam schwaber cco christopher keenan svp content development & production products video games parent mattel inc. divisions playground productions subsidiaries hit entertainment website www.mattel.com mattel creations is the content production division of mattel inc. the division is head by mattel s chief content officer catherine balsam schwaber and consists of playground productions hit entertainment and the american girl content creation team in middleton wisconsin . 39 creations background edit previously mattel had team up with producer robert b. radnitz to form a joint venture film production company radnitz mattel productions . 9 mattel agreed to purchase hit entertainment sans sprout from apax partners group in october 2011 for 680 million . 31 32 with lionsgate mattel had barbie brand launched into a series of successful animated direct to homevideo movies which later moved to universal . monster high followed barbie in 2010 . 41 many american girl films were made . 35 a few properties hot wheels max steel a masters of the universe and a monster high have been set up at the various studios . for example hot wheels was first at columbia pictures with mcg attached to direct but ended up moving to warner bros. and joel silver . as of 2013 the property was licensed out to legendary pictures with joe roth attached to produce . 35 41 in october 2013 mattel playground productions was launched by mattel as its new in house