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Mattel designs and sells toys like Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars, and Fisher-Price baby gear.
Mattel is a toy company. It sells dolls, cars, building sets, and baby products to kids and their parents, mostly through big retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon. The company makes money by designing toys, having them manufactured cheaply in factories overseas, and then selling them to stores at a markup. Its three biggest brands are Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price. Barbie alone brings in roughly a quarter of total sales. Hot Wheels is the fast-growing star, especially with collectors who buy the die-cast cars as a hobby. Fisher-Price covers baby gear and preschool toys.
Think of Mattel as a brand factory. It doesn't own the factories that make the toys. Instead, it owns the characters and the ideas, then licenses them out or sells them wholesale. That means the real value is in the names: Barbie, Hot Wheels, Thomas & Friends, Uno, and American Girl. Mattel also makes money from entertainment. It sold the movie rights to Barbie to Warner Bros., and the 2023 Barbie movie was a huge hit that boosted doll sales. That showed Wall Street that Mattel's brands can live outside the toy aisle. The company is now pushing more into film, TV, and digital games based on its characters. It also runs a smaller segment for American Girl dolls and a licensing business where other companies pay to use Mattel's brands.
Mattel had a rough stretch in the 2010s. It lost the Disney princess license to Hasbro, sales slumped, and the company went through several CEOs. But in recent years it has cut costs, paid down debt, and focused on its strongest brands. It has also bought back some of its own stock, though not a huge amount. The big question now is whether toys stay popular as kids spend more time on screens. Mattel's answer is to turn its toys into movies, shows, and games. If that works, the company becomes less of a toy seller and more of an entertainment brand. If it doesn't, Mattel is still a solid toy business, but one that depends on holiday shopping seasons and the whims of children.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026