The year is 1945, when the toy company Mattel is born. Along with truly great toys, this company gives a lot to the community and environment as well as being the world's leading toy company.
Mattel is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of toy products. The company's major brands include Barbie, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Fisher-Price, and American Girl. With headquarters in El Segundo, California, Mattel has offices and facilities in 36 countries and sells its products in more than 150 nations throughout the world.
In 1945, Ruth and Elliot Handler and Harold "Matt  Matson develop this new company out of their garage workshop located in Southern California. Although the first products they create are simply picture frames, Elliot takes the left over pieces of these frames and put them to use to make dollhouse furniture. These dollhouse furniture pieces were just a side business for Elliot though. Harold Matson soon sells out his partner, and, being confident from the success of the dollhouse furniture, the Handler's decide to turn the companies' emphasis on toys.
In the year 1947, the "Uke-A-Doodle  is the first, in a line if musical toys. In 1948, Mattel is incorporated in Hawthorne, California. During the year 1955, Mattel becomes involved with "Mickey Mouse Club . This very popular show soon become the major spot of advertising for Mattel, which revolutionized they way the toys were marketed. It also introduced they another great product, the "Burp Gun , and automatic cap gun.
During the late 1950's, well, 1959 to be exact, the most sot after doll, "Barbie  makes her first appearance. This doll was named after a girl Barbie, short for Barbara, created by her mother Ruth Handler. When Barbie was a young child, Ruth would often times see her daughter playing with paper dolls. Since the majority of dolls in those days were baby dolls, Ruth thought of making an older doll, which young girls could play with and think about what they wanted to do when they grew up, and so she created "Barbie . Since then, Barbie has played a key part in millions of young girls lives. Millions of people have come to collect this doll in her many styles and themes, all totaling more than 600 dolls.
After becoming publicly owned company in 1960, Mattel had its common stock listed on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges in 1963. By 1965, sales topped $100,000,000 and Mattel joins the Fortune 500.
Mattel introduces the Ken doll, which becomes Barbie's one and only boyfriend. Named after the Handler's son, Ken has brown plastic hair, unlike Barbies and he also has a wide variety of clothes. In 1965, Mattel enters the educational preschool market with "See N' Say , a talking toy.
In 1968, the number one name in toy vehicles comes out, it's name, "Hot Wheels . The first Hot Wheels vehicle is a hot-rod with a candy-colored paint job. More than 41 million kids have grown up with the brand over the years, some still collect them as adults. The largest private Hot Wheels collection to date is valued at more than $1 million. Also in the year 1968, Mattel purchased the first of several companies, which come to be known as "World of the Young , a strategy, which was used in gaining. Monogram Models was the first to join, followed by Metaframe, a pet products company a decade later; Turco, a manufacturer of playground equipment; Ringling Brother and Barnum and Bailey Circus; Circus World, a theme park; and Radnitz/Mattel Productions, a motion picture production company. Also in the year 1968, Christie, the first many ethnic friends of Barbie was created. Another two of Barbie's Latina and Asian friends were created, Theresa (1988), and Kira (1990).
In 1972, Mattel restructures to create Mattel, Inc., with one division and seven subsidiaries. In 1975, Elliot and Ruth Handler, the founders of the Mattel leave the company.
In the late 1970's Mattel starts to head in the electronic direction to keep up with the fast pace of the changing world. In 1979, Mattel introduces the Intelivision home video entertainment system. However, by 1983, the company reports a loss of about $394 million. Failing revenues in non-toy related ventures in record sales and profits of Mattel's toy lines eventually cause the company to revaluate its strategy. By 1984, all non-toy-related subsidiaries were sold off or closed.
In 1978, the Mattel's Children's foundation was established. This is a nonprofit organization that outreached to families is need of proper medical attention.
Skipping roughly two decades, we are now in the year 2000, which was actually a pretty big year for Mattel. They got granted a license agreement for Harry Potter. Harry Potter is originally a book that was so popular it got made into a movie. This was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Harry Potter products included dolls, games, puzzles, activity sets, vehicles, and plush and collectible characters. All of toys came out in two sets, first in spring 2001, and then October 2001.
Barbie makes her film debut in 2001 "The Nutcracker . It is a computer-generated imagery that became available in October, on video and DVD.
Besides the product line Barbie, Mattel also has two other lines, Fisher Price and The American Girls Collection. Fisher Price is a well-known and loved toy line that captured the hearts of kids as well as parents. From the "Rock-a-Stack  to the "Little People  play sets, there as much fun as ever.
The American Doll collection features books, dolls, and accessories based on nine-year-old heroines who lived during the key times in American history. In 1995, Mattel introduced "American Girl Today , a line of contemporary dolls and accessories that help to develop a person's individuality and encourage them to try new things.
There are three divisions, which make up Mattel's toys, they include, girls, boys, and Infant's and Preschool. They differ because of obvious reason such gender and age, but more importantly because of the creative process that goes along with them.
Mattel's Girls division houses some of Mattel's best-known and best-loved brands: Barbie, American Girl, Polly Pocket, and Diva Starz, as well as large and small dolls. President Adrienne Fontanella leads this division. The Girls division earns worldwide yearly sale of about $2 billion.
Under Fontanella's direction, the Barbie brand continues to be up on exactly what girls are into these days. Approximately one billion Barbie dolls have been sold in four decades, which makes Barbie the best-selling fashion doll in almost every major worldwide market. As mentioned earlier, it was the success of the Barbie doll that led Mattel to become a publicly owned company in 1960.
But Barbie isn't the only power brand in the Girls division. She shares the floor with, Pleasant Companies leading brand, American Girl, whose goal is to educate and entertain girls with high-quality products that create social values in girls, which is very important in this day and age. A $300 million division of Mattel, Pleasant Company markets and distributes the American Girl product line through its award-winning catalog and its Web site. The product line is also available at American Girl Place, the incredibly successful retail and entertainment site, located in downtown Chicago.
The Boys, Entertainment, Games & Puzzles division is very big too, and represents approximately $1.2 billion in worldwide sales. Matt Bousquette, president of the division, oversees all areas of product development including marketing, design, packaging, and research for the company's Wheels, Entertainment and Games product lines such as Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Tyco R/C, Max Steel, Harry Potter, and UNO. As mentioned earlier, in 1968, Mattel introduced Hot Wheels, the #1 brand for boys. Today, Hot Wheels is a worldwide brand that appeals to guys across a fairly large age range. Hot Wheels basic cars have been one of the industry's top three best-selling toys in each of the past four years.
From the Tyco Toys merger in 1997, Mattel Wheels was formed with the addition of the Matchbox and Tyco R/C brands. Mattel Wheels is currently the #1, #2, and #3 toy vehicle brands in the world. Matchbox's themes are a favorite of young boys but the speed and power of Hot Wheels attracts an older male audience. Tyco R/C appeals to the boys in the Generation Y crowd.
As far as entertainment goes, Mattel has partnered with Warner Bros. Consumer Products as the worldwide master toy licensee for Harry Potter, as mentioned earlier. Mattel is also the worldwide master toy licensee of all Nickelodeon entertainment properties across toy categories such as dolls, action figures, handheld games, and more. Last, but not least, Mattel's partnership with Sony Family Pictures Entertainment has become the #1 new action figure brand in the U.S. for 2000-Max Steel, which is sports super agent.
A trusted name in early childhood development, Fisher-Price is the most widely recognized brand of infant and preschool toys in the industry. Since it's founding in 1930, Fisher-Price has earned a reputation for designing and producing high-quality toys that provide developmental benefits (and plenty of fun!) for children from birth to age five. Fisher-Price merged with Mattel in 1993. Neil Friedman, president of Fisher-Price Brands, is currently responsible for overseeing the $1.6 billion division.
Some of the well-known brands Fisher-Price has created are Little People ®, popular figures and play; Rescue Heroes, the first nonviolent action figure line designed especially for preschoolers; and Power Wheels battery-powered ride-ons.
As you can see from the information provided above, Mattel is much, much more than an ordinary toy company. As far as profits are concerned, the Mattel toy company is doing just fine and maybe in a few years from now they will have some real competition, which may lead to better toys.