Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT) is a publicly listed company headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States that owns 6 consumer brands, and has 3 recorded transactions.[1]
Mattel was founded in a Californian garage in 1945 making picture frames, then dollhouse furniture from the offcuts. It became the largest toy company in the world on the strength of Barbie and Hot Wheels, and has recently rebuilt itself around licensing its properties into film.
Mattel acquired Pleasant Company, maker of American Girl dolls, for about $700 million. Each doll comes with historical fiction set in a particular period, and the books address subjects including slavery and internment, which is unusual for a toy line.
Mattel acquired Tyco Toys for about $755 million, taking Matchbox with it. That put Matchbox and Hot Wheels, rivals since 1968, under one owner; Mattel has kept both ranges in production rather than merging them.
Mattel acquired Fisher-Price for about $1.1 billion in stock, adding infant and preschool toys to a company built on Barbie and Hot Wheels. Fisher-Price had published a set of design principles about intrinsic play value in its first year of trading, 1930.