About Josh Silverman
Josh Silverman, Executive Vice President and Chief Franchise Officer at Mattel, discussed the company's approach to reimagining intellectual property at the TV Kids Festival in February 2025. He described a strategy the company calls "newstalgia," which he said aims to preserve the core DNA of a brand while modernizing it for contemporary audiences. As an example, he cited the relaunch of "Barney's World," a preschool series airing on Max, Cartoon Network, and Jito, which he said was designed to appeal to Millennial and Gen Z parents who grew up with the character while introducing Barney to a new generation. Silverman also noted that Mattel is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2025 with plans including nostalgia picture books, digital games, exhibitions, and the opening of the Mattel Adventure Park.
In a September 2021 interview, Silverman commented on Mattel's financial performance, stating that the company had achieved its best fourth quarter in 15 years and double-digit sales growth for two consecutive quarters. He attributed the results to a multi-year strategy and reported that over the prior three years, gross margin had improved by over 1,100 basis points, cash flow had improved by nearly $500 million, and operating income had increased by more than $650 million.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Josh Silverman's recent appearances.
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Transcript (4 segments)
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Jim Cramer0:00
You are a man of your word. When things weren't doing well, you said things were starting to get better. This was the finest fourth quarter in 15 years despite a worldwide pandemic. How did you do it?
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Josh Silverman0:15
Yes, Jim, this was an exceptional quarter for Mattel with our best performance in years, with strong consumer demand and another milestone year for the company. For the second quarter in a row, we achieved double-digit sales growth. We outpaced the industry and gained share on a global basis. But our results exceeded expectations on many levels, with the highest fourth-quarter growth in 15 years, as you said, with a significant increase in profitability, with a full-year operating income that was two and a half times higher than last year. But this is not just about the quarter or the year; it's about a multi-year strategy that is tracking very well, which puts us in a strong position to continue to increase profitability and accelerate our growth in 2021 and beyond.
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Jim Cramer1:04
What I liked about it, these were all fantastic numbers. But you told me one day, Jim, this company which has terrible cash flow can make fortunes on everything that it puts out. So when Barbie has a plus 18 quarter, number one toy property globally in 2020, not doll but property, you're making a lot more money off each Barbie even though they're more interesting, fascinating, diverse, and inclusive than any other lineup that I've ever seen.
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Josh Silverman1:29
That's right. We made significant progress in improving our profitability. Our gross margin has increased for the 10th consecutive quarter, and this is only getting better and stronger. In terms of cash flow, if you look at the journey that we've achieved over the last three years, our gross margin improved by over 1100 points, our cash flow improved by almost 500 million dollars, and our operating income is up more than 650 million dollars. So very strong performance on the bottom line, and we're making good progress on the top line as well. This was the second quarter in a row where we improved our top line by double digits.
