Mattel Plans to Name Robert Eckert to CEO Post, Journal Says
El Segundo, California, May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Mattel Inc., the world's largest toymaker, plans to announce today that it will name Robert A. Eckert, former president of Kraft Foods Inc. to the chief executive post, the Wall Street Journal reported, without citing sources.
Eckert, 45, will be filling the position left vacant when Jill Barad quit as chairman and CEO in February, ending a three- year tenure marked by profit shortfalls, sluggish sales and executive departures.
Eckert quit as president and CEO of Kraft Foods after working for the company for 23 years, Kraft parent Philip Morris Cos. said today.
Before being appointed president in 1997, he was group vice president of Kraft Foods, president of Oscar Mayer, and executive vice president and general manager for cheese. He joined the company in 1977.
Philip Morris spokesman Nicholas M. Rolli said Eckert was leaving to run another company. Rolli wouldn't name the company, but said it isn't a competitor to Kraft Foods or Philip Morris.
Eckert was traveling and couldn't be reached to comment. Mattel spokesman Glenn Bozarth said that he wouldn't comment on the toymaker's search for a CEO.
At Mattel, Eckert will be faced with the challenge of turning around a company whose stock price has dropped by more than half in the last year.
The El Segundo, California-based maker of Fisher Price toys, Hot Wheels cars and American Girl dolls said last month that it plans to sell its software business, whose losses helped lead to Barad's resignation. Mattel bought the Learning Co. software division in May 1999 as part of Barad's push into electronic toys.
Barad, who joined Mattel in 1981 and turned its Barbie doll into the world's top-selling toy, was one of several executives who left the toymaker in the past year and a half.
In March 1999, Bruce Stein, chief operating officer and president of Mattel Worldwide, and Gary Baughman, president of the Fisher-Price children's unit, resigned as part of a management shake-up. Chief Financial Officer Harry Pearce retired in February.
May/17/2000 4:40 ET |
