Disappointed, but not surprised. CEO Sinclair obviously didn't have the cohones to make the truly difficult cuts, like the CFO and head of HR, or VPs and SVPs who stood watch while Barbie slumped three years in a row. Had those deep cuts been made, people would be a lot happier that this was a true restructuring. This is sounding more like a "cut by the numbers" game where people continue to fail upwards and be protected. If you were in charge of a business that declined 3 years in a row at any other company, your butt would be out the door. But at Mattel, they're given "new opportunities." Sets a poor example for those left.
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Not a knee jerk reaction. The SVP of girls marketing was told repeatedly to turn Barbie around. Instead, she did nothing and now instead of being fired, she is SVP of corp communications. The vp of Barbie Marketing and VP of Barbie Design, who were on the brand the 3 years Barbie slumped, still have jobs. I'm not advocating getting rid of all VPs, but when you have 3 individuals who eff up a brand as big as Barbie 3 years in a row, show the. The door. They don't have leadership skills nor the bison to inspire or create a strategy. Those are the kind of feckless failing upwards types that need to be shown the door ASAP. Nothing knee jerk about it.
The posters capping on Sinclair for not making drastic cuts immediately need to think more about it. You want a knee-jerk reaction to fire everyone at the top, when it's a knee-jerk Stockton reaction that everyone is angry about and why we are where we are. Sinclair actually held back on a big portion of the mass layoffs to take a smarter approach and many jobs were saved. There were many VPs and above cut...or will be a casualty too. How did you hear about who was cut so far? I'm assuming they were your co-workers so the news doesn't have to travel far and moves very fast. There were no formal announcements right? Do you work with VPs and above? I'm guessing not, so you probably don't know about those but are quick to judge. These are very sad days for Mattel and I was a casualty as well. So before you get out the pitchforks for Sinclair who was handed a mess and been in the role for 2 MONTHS, keep in mind this is a $6B company that cannot be corrected overnight. What do you think would happen if you have no CEO, fire the CFO and all of executive management in the first punch...can you say private equity buy out when the stock is worthless?! Then there's no company at all. I'm not saying the CFO shouldn't be fired....HE ABSOLUTELY SHOULD! But give Sinclair a few more months before passing judgement.
It must be interesting talking about yourself in the third person Sinclair!!
Yeah so the stock jumped 4%. Another short sighted orchestrated goal to appease investors. Can they keep it up for the long haul? Of course not! We all know that they are a far cry from reviving what was once an incredible company to work for. THE POOR DECISION MAKING HAS GOT TO STOP!!!
+1, Sinclair is a figurehead/puppet to appease the shareholders. You can't have a company without a CEO these days. But he's not going to make any drastic changes or decisions. A layoff this big was planned long before Stockton resigned and left Sinclair holding the bag.
Calm down Goober, this was just the worker bee layoff. Mattel can flush lower level employees at any time. Simple and easy to execute by HR standards, and a shareholder pleaser. The stock jumped 4% already since news of "massive" layoffs started. There will surely be some VP and higher-level executive hits in the future, but (unfortunately) those guys have contracts and their dismissals are more carefully orchestrated for damage control to their reputations. When the time is right, there is a stock email issued which congratulates a departing exec who has "decided to pursue outside interests" and thanks them for their very few years of service.
Is that you, Sinclair? You silly cat. Doesn't matter is you're a temp or crowned CEO, you'll still the person at the helm. Take responsibility. This isn't a pass for him either. If this happens on your watch - then yes, this technically IS his masterminded effort. They don't just grab any guy off the street to even be a CEO - interim or other- this is someone who has a lifetime of experience of leading major companies and we're supposed to say "oh poor Christopher, he inherited this mess" he's been on our board, of course he's well aware and has watched this mess happen and did nothing to step in until he was pushed in. Is this what it takes to be a CEO? Wow, then sign me up so I can claim ignorance and collect a big check. Weeeeee! And who knows what the true story behind Stocktons exit. Shady any way you shake it though. You can be sure of one thing though - he saw the writing on the wall and took steps to protect his own interests and earnings behind hitting the escape button.
Get your facts right. Bryan Stockton was the CEO and resigned Jan 26. PepsiCo chairman Sinclair was on the board and stepped in since then as interim CEO. He's a temp; he didn't mastermind this layoff.