From a humble picture-frame workshop in 1945 to the pink-saturated global spectacle of the 2023 Barbie movie, this story traces Mattel’s dramatic rise, painful near-collapse, and improbable comeback—built on Ruth Handler’s invention of Barbie and decades of blockbuster brands like Hot Wheels, Fisher‑Price, and American Girl. It’s a story of brilliant marketing (television tie‑ins that rewrote toy advertising), bold bets and costly missteps (the Learning Company debacle, Bratz litigation, and China recalls), and then a decisive pivot under outsider CEO Ynon Kreiz who recast Mattel as an IP-driven entertainment studio. The piece digs into the economics of the toy business, the competitive landscape with Hasbro and LEGO, the company’s new film-and-franchise playbook that turned Barbie into a $1.4 billion cultural event, and the open questions—can Mattel repeat the feat, and how will it compete with screens and shifting kid tastes?

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Transcript - https://empor.top/us/MAT

• I. Introduction & Episode Roadmap
• II. Founding Story & Early Innovation (1945–1959)
• III. The Barbie Revolution (1959–1980s)
• IV. The Hot Wheels Era & Diversification (1968–1990s)
• V. The Jill Barad Era: Hubris & The Learning Company Disaster (1997–2000)
• VI. The Wilderness Years: Bratz, China Scandal & Near-Death (2000–2015)
• VII. The Ynon Kreiz Turnaround (2018–2023): IP Goldmine Strategy
• VIII. The Hasbro Wars & Competitive Landscape
• IX. Business Model Deep Dive
• X. Porter's 5 Forces Analysis
• XI. Hamilton's 7 Powers Analysis
• XII. The Modern Mattel Playbook & Strategic Bets
• XIII. Bear Case vs. Bull Case
• XIV. Key Metrics & What to Watch
• XV. Epilogue & Reflections