Jakks Pacific

JAKKS Pacific engages children in creative play, in the true spirit of the phrase. Our products encourage learning and interaction. They inspire fun and spark creativity among children of all ages, interests, backgrounds and abilities. While our core business is toys, our offerings have grown to include writing instruments, back-to-school items, slumber bags, kites, pool floats and other leisure products. This is absolutely by design. We counter the fragmented, seasonal and fiercely competitive nature of our industry by executing a business strategy centered on growth through diversity and operational excellence. This means developing new core products. Growing and consolidating existing product lines. Pursuing strategic acquisitions. Expanding international sales. And capitalizing on operating efficiencies achieved through disciplined management and a lean, flexible infrastructure. Since our founding in 1995, JAKKS Pacific has executed this strategy aggressively, faithfully and successfully, achieving year-over-year growth and an exceptional balance sheet. JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is a multi-brand toy company managed by industry veterans Jack Friedman and Stephen Berman. Typically, JAKKS Pacific adds to the marketability of its products by taking generic items and enhancing their value by securing licensing agreements. Foremost among its products is a line of action figures based on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) personalities. The company's brands include "Flying Colors," "Road Champs," "Remco," "Child Guidance," and "Pentech." The branded items include action figures, dolls, writing instruments, art and crafts products, and miniature die-cast cars. Friedman signed a long-term employment agreement with MCA and began running LJN Toys from southern California. The relationship did not last. Preferring to be on his own in the business world, Friedman broke free from MCA's grasp two years after his move from New York. His next business venture was THQ Inc., a southern California video game company that Friedman founded in 1990. During THQ's formative years, Friedman acquired licenses to Hollywood productions and based the development of the company's video games on popular films. The company flourished at first. Friedman sold his 46 percent stake in the company on its initial public offering of stock, netting himself $13 million. In 1992, THQ's sales exploded, jumping more than 70 percent, but then the dynamics of the video game industry began to change. In an August 26, 2002 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, JAKKS Pacific's chief financial officer, Joel Bennett, explained the turn of events. "Then," Bennett said, referring to the early 1990s, "games were more like toys than technology." When the development of gaming software evolved toward the technological side, "it became beyond Jack's comfort zone," Bennett explained. "He's kind of a low-tech guy." Frustrated, trapped in a business for which he had no natural affinity, Friedman struggled to remain content at THQ. After the company reported a staggering $18 million loss for 1994, Friedman left to start another company. To assist in the venture's start-up, Friedman enlisted the help of his longtime friend Stephen G. Berman. Between 1988 and 1991, Berman had served as president of Balanced Approach, Inc., a distributor of personal fitness products and services. Berman left Balanced Approach in 1991 to join Friedman at THQ, where he served a four-year stint as vice-president and managing director of THQ International, Inc., a subsidiary of THQ, Inc. Together, Friedman and Berman started JAKKS Pacific in 1995. Friedman was appointed chairman and chief executive officer. Berman, after leaving THQ International in August 1995, was named executive vice-president, secretary, and chief operating officer. From the start, Friedman's objective was to use JAKKS Pacific to consolidate the fragmented toy industry. The industry was dominated by the "Big Two," Hasbro, Inc. an