We needed some new energetic blood with toy experience to come in and radically clean house at the top. Instead we got a stodgy 64 year old who will maintain the status quo. Stock fell immediately. Should make for lively conversation inside the big house, and at the Q1 earnings report on 4-16. Save me a seat up front, I'll have a few questions.
10 replies (most recent on top)
@ Satan - new blood not needed everywhere, just at the top. A fish rots from the head down.
That's bull about needing new YOUNG fresh blood. All you can hear from many managers "Just send it to China" Makes workers feel warm and fuzzy. Some department managers could not sail a wooden shoe across a puddle. They know less than the workers and refuse to listen. Mattel Fisher Price are going to lose some of their BEST TALENT. Stop trying to blow hot air up peoples skirts to make them fell good. Mattel is going to crash unless Jesus steps in to help the poor helpless souls that are stuck there. No joke serious crap going on.
How in the heck does Dickson get yet another promotion? You could of kept those 107 workers, especially since most of them are people who did real work, unlike the VP's and up. Just for his Salary.
Notice as well that the earnings release is Thursday afternoon after the close - Mattel usually does Friday morning before the opening. While I don't have a crystal ball, it's probably a sign Q1 earnings are worse than expected and they're hoping the stock doesn't hemorrhage as much in after-hours trading.
While there's no perfect candidate for CEO, Dickson is far from perfect, he's simply not a good choice to turn this ship around. Dickson's track record shows, see comments posted all over this site. In addition, he is more about Barbie...one brand. He does not care much about the other brands, other home grown brands. He cares even less about licensed properties, proof of this is him bunching up the licensed properties in one 'Miscellaneous Box". This company need someone 'new' to run the show. Someone who is not afraid to (like many others have said) clean house up top. The same people who are captaining this sinking ship are still in charge. Talk about too many cooks, we have too many captains running this ship into iceberg after iceberg. This company needs someone preferably from the toy industry, preferably someone from the outside. Like I said, there;s no perfect CEO, but there are better candidates outside the company.
Dickson as COO is a joke. He's never managed anything well in his life. Barbie 50th? Proved he could spend a lot of money to starf*ck designers, but there wasn't any sales lift. And he started the idea in the Barbie team's heads that they were top fashion designers vs. relevance. Shanghai Barbie Store? That was all Dickson - and people had said internally it was a bad idea. But Dickson's an idea man! He doesn't know or care about details.
The combination of the two will be bad for Mattel. They still don't have a plan to get rid of the dead weight in Marketing, design, HR, or finance - but Richard's so clueless in all of these other areas that he'll need to keep on the old guard.
Truly dark times for Mattel ahead, at least 2 years before any turnaround. Expect a lot more layoffs, and hopefully at the VP and above level.
To the Barbie team and other morons in the HTC who think Richard's the next savior - you know the saying. Be careful what you wish for, because now that dream is your own personal hell.
Next CEO? A glimmer of hope is that Dickson may be more receptive to breaking up the "old boys club" at the top, if his goal is to turn Mattel around. Tim K doesn't and wouldn't see his direct reports for what they are or... what they are not. It was always amusing and sad to see them racing around, prepping to show/tell him exactly what they thought he wanted to hear versus the true state of affairs. ALWAYS trying to please at the expense of telling him what needed to be heard. CEO direct reports would follow the same routine without reservations if Tim K were to get the top driver's seat.
Sinclair won't be at the helm very long. Dickson's promotion to COO sets the stage for him to be the next CEO.
Hey OP, do you work here or do you invest into MAT? Or both?
Not sure which is more unlikely to happen: You taking up a front seat and asking some questions, or him opening up to take questions. Good luck, we'll be listening.