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Non-Tech : MAT - Mattel - toysRthem -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bookdon who wrote (465)	2/13/2000 5:00:00 PM
From: John Finley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 706

error in judgement Yes, I realize that it may be possible that it was just "errors in judgement". I don't know what the information that TLC showed MAT was, so I am outside looking in. I know that we shareholders were told that we should see $50M profit from TLC the first quarter. Was it wishful thinking by MAT or was it fraudulent reporting by TLC? I don't know. What I do know is that instead of +$50M we saw -$100M last Q and -$180M this Q. So this potential "error in judgement" is over $300M in two Q's (I have forgotten what we were told would be the profit in the second Q after the acquisition). I would expect any manager that couldn't account for $300M + in two Qs wouldn't be walking free. Did the kid's software biz dive in two Q's? Looking at the other companies in similar positions we can see that the market wasn't stellar but it also didn't evaporate like we are being told. Like I said, I don't have the information necessary to know what really went on, but IMO it happened too fast and too large to be simply a bad decision. For what it's worth, my guess is that Jill Barad made some bad decisions (duh!) but wasn't given the whole truth. Actually I think she had/has decent vision but not much of a knack for details. It could be that she just trusted the wrong people, I don't know. Of course I suppose this will all come out when the inevitable lawsuits happen. Of course there is no profit to be made in putting people (even deserving ones) in jail <gg>. JF

To: Bookdon who wrote (465)	2/14/2000 12:58:00 AM
From: Peter Speyer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 706

Herb Greenberg at TheStreet.com had, in a series of columns, reported of suspicions that The Learning Company had used suspicious accounting practices even before Mattel purchased TLC. If there was criminal wrongdoing, it was within TLC. I don't expect Ms. Barad is guilty of anything beyond bad judgement. I'm long on MAT, but only recently, at 10.25/share. Here's an oldie but goodie, which Herb wrote after the purchase of TLC. If you are not a subscriber, use the second link. thestreet.com Message 11438882