Also known as LJN Toys, Limited, Lewis J. Norman
LJN Toys Ltd. was an American toy company and video game publisher founded by Jack Friedman in 1967. MCA Inc. acquired the company in 1985, and sold to Acclaim Entertainment in 1990. The toy division of the company was closed by Acclaim and a majority of its employees were fired as the company was shifted towards video game publishing. It was closed in 1994, but its label was used once more in 2000.
Key facts
- Company.name
- LJN Toys Ltd.
- Company.logo
- LJN logo.png
- Company.type
- Subsidiary
- Company.industry
- Video games
- Company.fate
- Dissolved
- Company.founder
- Jack Friedman
- Company.hq_location_city
- New York City
- Company.hq_location_country
- US
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 2 more facts
- dissolved, abolished or demolished date
- 1995-00-00
- inception
- 1970-01-01
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Article
8 sectionsContents
- History
- Early history (1967–1985)
- MCA ownership (1985–1990)
- Acclaim Entertainment ownership (1990–2000)
- Products
- The Blinkins
- Games
- References
LJN Toys Ltd. was an American toy company and video game publisher founded by Jack Friedman in 1967. MCA Inc. acquired the company in 1985, and sold to Acclaim Entertainment in 1990. The toy division of the company was closed by Acclaim and a majority of its employees were fired as the company was shifted towards video game publishing. It was closed in 1994, but its label was used once more in 2000.
==History== ===Early history (1967–1985)=== Jack Friedman founded LJN in 1967 using funds from his employer Norman J. Lewis Associates (from which the company name "LJN" is derived, being a reversal of Lewis' initials) after seeing the sales figures of Mattel and Milton Bradley Company increase. Friedman later founded THQ and Jakks Pacific after leaving LJN. LJN shifted money used for television advertising to instead purchase licenses to make toys based on television shows. The first toyline by LJN based on a television show was for Emergency! The highest amount the company paid for a license by 1982 was $250,000.