Companies and Brands

Mattel Cleans House and Is Looking to Replace CFO

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Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) shares were slipping on Thursday when it came out that the firm is looking to replace its long-standing Chief Financial Officer Kevin Farr. This is definitely another step in reshaping the senior management team, as the recently appointed CEO Margo Georgiadis continues to make changes in the toy maker.

For some quick background: Farr served under four different CEOs for a period of 17 years. During this time the stock has had a mixed performance. Since 2000, the stock has only gained about 50%, although it has been up over 300% as recently as 2013 (compared to July 2000).

Georgiadis joined Mattel back in February, leaving Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) to take over as chief executive. So far in her time at Mattel, she has removed the human resources chief and replaced the chief information officer.

Ultimately, Georgiadis’s goal is to correct errors made by management in the past. In what may be seen as an unpopular move, she cut the annual dividend by 60% and reduced focus in short-term performance.

Excluding Thursday’s move, Mattel has underperformed the broad markets, with the stock down about 25% year to date. However, the numbers get even worse over the past 52 weeks, with the stock down closer to 38%.

Shares of Mattel were last seen trading down about 0.6% at $20.75, with a consensus analyst price target of $23.92 and a 52-week range of $19.41 to $34.24.

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