As an ES employee with no real exposure to the what's going on at FP, I always assumed the JA thing was just a sweetheart deal put together by RD to allow his buddy JA abscond with a small fortune in Mattel cash without really doing any work.
Its heartening see that I was wrong about the whole thing. It kind of restores some of my faith in our leadership's agenda and decision making.
What's interesting is that the poster says " with no real exposure to what goes on at FP". It's all the same company. You don't need to be "exposed" - you just have to take interest. Stop living with your head in the ground and understand that the FP business is the MOST STABLE of anything Mattel has. Don't believe me" Barbie was $1.5B just 4 years ago - now it's $960M. That's not a decline - it's an elevator ride to hell. FP on the other hand has only fluctuated 5% up or down in the last 4 years.
BE interested. BE involved. Or BE gone.
Thanks for posting JA!