INTERNET (esecurities.W) April 15, 1999 - Mattel:$50M to Launch Online Venture, Internet Subsidiary
LOS ANGELES, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Mattel, Inc. (NYSE: MAT - news) today announced that the company will spend an initial $50 million to launch an Internet venture, which is expected to result in the creation of a new subsidiary later this year, a portion of which may be offered to the public.
''Upon completion of our merger with The Learning Company, which is expected next month, Mattel will be uniquely positioned to succeed on the Internet,'' Jill E. Barad, Mattel's chairman and chief executive officer, said. ''Our vision is to create a premier online destination and E-commerce site to better serve children and their families...''Together with The Learning Company we operate over 80 web sites, and we begin this venture with a 25 million-name database of consumers who already trust our many proprietary brands,'' she said. ''We see tremendous synergies to be achieved by harnessing all of this brand power at one Internet destination.
''We will provide superior customer service, offering many of our software and toy products, as well as new downloadable electronic software, through the convenience of one shopping cart,'' she said. ''And we will fulfill orders through the $1 billion combined existing capacity of The Learning Company, Pleasant Company and Mattel,'' Barad said.
''This strategy will be a win/win for our traditional retailers, E-tailers and Mattel, as we employ new cooperative concepts that will benefit us all,'' Barad said..."
SOURCE: © 1999 Thursday April 15, 9:05 am Eastern Time
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