Last year, the toy industry was among the few to prosper as the pandemic upended many businesses. For Mattel, it was the second straight year of growth, and Lisa McKnight, global head of Barbie and dolls, attributed the company's success to its legacy brands Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price.
"Not only is Barbie, again, the premier brand in connecting to culture, reflecting what's going on around us, but we made a real effort to shift our strategies. We leaned into social [media] to make sure that we were cultivating conversation right out of the gate and providing not only entertaining content but also important, relevant content to help parents navigate through this incredible time," she told Cheddar.
Growth within the Barbie line, according to McKnight, expanded last year and the company saw incremental sales after the launch of Barbie Extra, which targets an older audience. Perhaps the most stunning part about Barbie's success over the past year is the rate at which another legacy item, the Dreamhouse, flew off of shelves.
"We constantly reinvent it, and last year, we sold one Dreamhouse every minute. It did incredibly well because of its play value and [it] resonates with parents that grew up with the Dreamhouse themselves," she said.
As corporate America engages in conversations surrounding social progress, Mattel has invested in its Play Fair initiative, which aims to snuff out systemic racism. Inclusivity, diversity, and representation continue to be pillars the company says it strives for, whether it be through its toy lines, workplace demographics, or by giving a voice to those who often go unheard.
While Mattel is trending upward in terms of growth and sales, upcoming projects like a Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie, the Barbie digital gaming app, and the enhanced line of body types offered in its dolls will potentially help the brand maintain its standing.
"Obviously we have to go where our consumers are going, and certainly they're consuming digital media like never before. We've had great success with our kid-targeted gaming app, and we're going to be looking at expanding the audience in the future years," McKnight said.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
