By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- Mattel stock (NASDAQ:MAT) soared 8.5% in Wednesday’s premarket after regaining the license to produce Cinderella, ‘Frozen dolls’ including Elsa and Anna and other toys based on Disney’s princess lineup, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Mattel had lost the license to its bigger rival Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) in 2016. Hasbro’s stock fell 2.7% while Disney (NYSE:DIS) was up 1.4%.
The loss of the business had left a hole of $440 million in Mattel’s accounts resulted in a big underperformance in the stock that’s down nearly 29% in the last five years.
Mattel will start selling new Disney toys in 2023, and the business will be managed by the same group that has overseen Barbie’s comeback, the WSJ said.
“It was an important priority, and it’s something we worked hard to win,” WSJ quoted Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as saying. Mattel showed it could manage evergreen brands that aren’t dependent on big movies, he told the paper.
According to the report, Hasbro will continue to make Star Wars and Indiana Jones toys, both properties belonging to Disney-owned Lucasfilm.