Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Burry who wrote (7447)	6/7/1999 4:59:00 PM
From: Mike 2.0	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78652

Mike I strongly disagree re validity of the mattel.com plan. In fact, it seemed downright mission critical after reading a recent article about Hasbro Interactive. Excerpt follows to facilitate conversation only. Below is the URL but I believe it is time-sensitive & only good for a few more days from date of this post. Bottom line, the TLC merger is an absolute winner, and leveraging TLC titles and Mattel brands in a internet venue is a logical and timely extension of the synergies between Mattel brands and TLC games and market share. To suggest this was slapped together in some knee-jerk reaction to appease analysts is nonsensical IMO. The same analysts who have a hold on the stock will climb aboard the bandwagon again once the TLC merger bears fruit. I also suspect if the TLC merger never happened WSJ would be torpedoing Jill Barad all the more as ignoring electronic games and toys...hey, fits the negative portrayal of her as basically obsessed with the Barbie doll and nothing but. The fact is the TLC merger did not happen in a vaccum. It is why I am long the stock and may well add to my position. boston.com ...But the fast-growing company <<Hasbro Interactive>>, already fending off the likes off Microsoft and Sony, faces a new challenge from its old rival Mattel Inc., which last month completed its $3.5 billion acquisition of Cambridge-based Learning Co., the nation's second largest maker of entertainment and educational software. Now armed with such popular titles as the Carmen Sandiego and Reader Rabbit series, along with best-selling strategy games Myst and Riven, Mattel has been transformed overnight into a $1 billion behemoth in the explosive interactive industry. ''They're players. They've gained a significant amount of market share in a short time,'' says Doug Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, a trade group representing computer and video game companies. ''Their acquisition of the Learning Co. is a pretty strong statement about their commitment to the interactive industry.''..... ....And MattelMedia, the toy giant's interactive division in El Segundo, Calif., seems ready to meet it. Since starting three years ago, the company's on-line and CD-ROM products have focused mostly on the always-fashionable Barbie, and Hot Wheels. Still, sales for the division soared to $100 million last year, from $20 million in 1996, the company said. Mattel, which posted a $17.9 million first-quarter loss because of sagging retail sales in its traditional business segments, is now gunning for a bigger piece of the fast-growing interactive children's and family game market. Drawing on the technology of Learning Co., Mattel said last month it will spend $50 million to create a new Internet subsidiary, Mattel.com, which will bring together its top brands, such as Barbie, Carmen Sandiego, and American Girl, for both sales and play. Mattel expects total e-commerce revenues to reach $60 million this year. ''As with all our interactive products, we want to do things that relate to the basic play patterns of these properties,'' said Glenn Bozarth, a Mattel spokesman. ''We see a lot of synergy between the Learning Co. titles and our own brands.''....