Disclosure
Larian: MGA operates with zero outside investors or bank credit lines
“You know, maybe as big as MGA is, We don't have a bank line. We don't have any investors in here because I did that previously, and the banks and the investors are for you. When it's sunny, when it rains, they all run away.”
Opinion
Larian: Private equity contracts are designed to strip founders of control
“Most of these, what I have seen, they write the contract the way it is all in their favor, because you need the money, and they have the money, and they hardly lose money. They take over your business, so you lose your business.”
Disclosure
Larian offered Mattel designer Carter Bryant a 3% royalty for Bratz
“We give you three percent royalty on the dolls, but you must quit Mattel and come here right away.”
Opinion
Larian: Mattel Uses Litigation to Put Competitors Out of Business
“When you look at the history of Mattel, they have basically used litigation as a business tool to put competitors out of business.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Larian: Consumers, not toy companies, will pay the cost of import tariffs
“And these tariffs are not going to be paid by the toy companies or any company. They're not going to be paid by retailers. They're going to be paid by the consumers.”
Insight
Larian: Raising toy prices from $38 to $49 can actually increase sales
“There is no difference between 38 and 49. So trust me, nothing will change. Actually, sometimes psychologically, when you sell something a little bit more expensive, you sell more of them, because people think, oh, that's a great thing.”
Insight
Larian: Market educational toys to grandparents with disposable income, not moms
“It's the grandparents. It's the gift givers. So you need to start marketing to grandparents. Once you start marketing to grandparents, because they want to take care of their, our gift givers. They want to take care of their children or grandchildren, and they…”
Opinion
Larian: 'Town Hall' is a terrible name for kids' apparel
“But that name Town Hall doesn't resonate with the product you're selling. The first thing I would do is come up with a name that people can relate to so they don't think about a Town Hall with President Trump or somebody else.”
Opinion
Larian claims Nintendo's Game Boy was inspired by MGA's success
“I still to date say that Nintendo was inspired by the success of my Game & Watch to come up with Game Boy, and of course they didn't want to give me Game Boy.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Quinn Emanuel made $450M representing Mattel in the Bratz lawsuit
“Oh my god, Cohen Emanuel, the law firm that represented, made four hundred and fifty million dollars.”
Assertion Supported
MGA sued Lucasfilm over Star Wars licensing and won
“And we ended up in litigation with Lucasfilm, which I won, but that really put a bad taste in my mouth, and I said, the hell with it. I don't want to work for these entertainment companies. I want to make my own IP.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian mortgaged his home for Bratz ads after Toys R Us canceled
“Toys R Us cancels five and a half or six million dollars worth of Brad's orders. I thought, now for sure we're gonna go out of business, so I went without my wife's approval, got a second mortgage in our, on our house, and put another one and a half million do…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian resold canceled Bratz inventory to Toys R Us at 25% markup
“And Toys R Us came back to us, I think two days before Thanksgiving, said we want to buy that order that we want to buy it back, that order that we canceled. And I said, those goods I don't have anymore, but I have goods in LA, and they cost 25% more, and they…”
Assertion Supported
Larian: LOL Surprise became MGA's biggest toy launch, surpassing Bratz
“And it became the biggest toy ever that we have launched, much bigger than Brad's.”
Insight
Larian: The toy business sees 15 to 100 failures for every hit
“For every success, there is, at least in the toy business, 15 to a hundred failures.”
Assertion Supported
Larian: MGA owns the largest US toy factory, employing 700 in Ohio
“We, MGA owns the largest toy factory in America, in Hudson, Ohio. We employ 700 workers.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian: MGA Entertainment has ten product failures for every hit
“And for every success that we have had 10 failures.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian: ABC International reached $70M in annual revenue
“We were doing seventy million dollars in a year.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian: Micro Games of America achieved $23M in sales and 32% profit on Nintendo Game & Watch
“In toys, I was making 32% profit, and the first year I sold twenty-three million dollar of Nintendo Game & Watch.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian spent $125,000 on a commercial just to pitch retail buyers
“I had to spend 125,000 dollars to make that TV commercial.”
Insight
Larian eliminated inventory risk by requiring retail letters of credit
“I learned from my mistake, from my failure with Nintendo game and watch, and this time I did not buy inventory like crazy. I would sell to retailers on what you call FOBs, free and board, so they had to open a letter of credit and buy it. So they owned the ris…”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Isaac Larian: Bratz brand is undergoing a resurgence and growing again
“It's a good thing they did that because Bratz is under resurgence and growing again. So on my LinkedIn, I thank them. I thank them for this.”
Assertion Supported
Larian: MGA is North America's top privately held toy company
“We're not as big as metal, but we are the number one privately held toy company in North America.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Larian: Father went bankrupt after lending money to friends and family
“My father was a textile merchant, and he was a good entrepreneur, but he loaned money left and right to these so-called friends and family. They didn't give him back the money, and he went bankrupt.”
