I'm glad I left the company earlier this year, but I'm saddened to watch a great American icon destroy itself, and even more disheartened that so many good people will lose their jobs (and many already have) as the result of terrible decisions made by the MLT over the last several years.
The Q3 earnings call was a new type of b---s---. On the one hand, it was refreshing not to have RD chiming in making false promises about vaporware products that never ship (Thingmaker, Aristotle, etc.) and spewing nonsense about Youtube impressions and "cultural conversations." M-go and the new CFO at least understand that businesses must generate actual revenue, not just NYT Magazine cover stories.
And yet...structural simplification, SKU rationalization, supply chain optimization, 360 degree connected play systems... As another poster pointed out here, it took a Wall St. analyst to basically ask "what about just making cool toys that kids want?" Indeed. Mattel has been making cost-reduced, lackluster products for years. Tons and tons of plastic junk, with all the fun removed to meet margin targets. In my years at Mattel, I became increasingly embarassed to see some of our products on shelves (or, more likely, in discount bins), especially some of the licensed products which seem to degrade in quality year-on-year (looking at you, action figures). Or just look at what Mattel has done to Thomas wooden trains...
Hasbro doesn't do much to optimize their supply chain or rationalize their SKUs... Because kids actually want the products they make. The most efficient supply chain in the world doesn't matter if no one wants your toys. Citizenship, cultural conversations, and social media hashtags don't matter if no one wants your toys.
The new CFO should know that the previous CEO was also talking about stabilization, fresh starts, and U-shaped recoveries. How well did that end up? CS put his faith in RD to lead Mattel back to growth, but RD is an obvious charlatan with essentially zero career achievements (Barbie Shanghai?), who somehow b---s---ed his way into second-in-command. Meanwhile, CS wasted two years trying and failing to put a bottom under Mattel's decline.
Where has the board been since Eckert left? What has happened to HIT (Thomas) and MEGA, previously profitable businesses that Mattel has driven into the ground? How is that Fuhu aquisition working out? How about Sproutling--oh, you can finally buy a Sproutling baby monitor 3 years after they took pre-orders, just in time for technology to become so widely available that there are basically no barriers to entry in that space.
Investors have been waiting for Mattel to turn the corner for years now. It is, frankly, shocking that there is no activist investor activity pushing for radical change in the company, including change at the board level.
If and when RD is fired AND replaced with someone with solid toy industry experience, it will signal to me that something is actually changing, but for now I have little hope.