Mattel 1998 Annual Report Download - page 9

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in plush in 1998, but a big increase in basic Infant and
Preschool toys. For 1999, we expect growth for this segment,
driven by strong new introductions and Sesame Street’s
first new movie in 15 years — “Elmo in Grouchland.”
I am very excited about our plans to launch our first-ever,
direct-to-consumer catalog for Fisher-Price brands, which
we will deliver in the second half of this year. Our Internet
site is already in operation and our catalog products will be
sold through our Web site as well.
At $700 million in sales last year, Wheels is now our
third largest category. Our combined Hot Wheels,
Matchbox and Tyco Radio Control shipping
increased by 21 percent in 1998, and our
die-cast car unit sales increased to $300
million, up from $200 million in 1997.
We’ll further fuel this growth with
important new partnerships, such
as our worldwide exclusive Ferrari
relationship and our entry into
Formula One Racing, the counter-
part to NASCAR in Europe. We will
continue to build our Wheels busi-
ness around the world by continuing
to implement the country-by-country
focused strategy we developed with the
Boston Consulting Group, which enabled
us to realize a 30 percent growth in our
international Wheels business last year.We will
also introduce direct-to-consumer collector cata-
logues for both Hot Wheels and Matchbox, which will
also be sold online in the second half.
Our Entertainment category — which includes Disney
and Nickelodeon — had a very strong year in 1998,
approaching $500 million on the strength of “Mulan,”
“A Bug’s Life” and “The Rugrats Movie.” In fact, Mattel
7Mattel signed a worldwide exclusive
licensing agreement with Ferrari.