Mattel Inc. Chief Operating Officer Richard Dickson is hoping to shake loose the innovation and creativity the toy-maker needs to revive sales. A talking Barbie doll hasn't been much help.
Introduced in November, Hello Barbie generated the most buzz Mattel has received in years, if not decades. But for the most part, it's been a dud.
Online reviews highlighted problems such as a malfunctioning charging station and a shaky Internet connection. On Amazon.com, 57 percent of reviews gave it one star out of five. And major retailers have slashed its $75 list price, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cutting it to $52.49.
"The sell-through was so-so, but it generated a lot of publicity and made Barbie relevant," said Jim Silver, editor of toy-review site TTPM.com.
Dickson, who was anointed Mattel's savior after arriving in 2014, hasn't been shy about shaking up a company many critics said had become stodgy and boring. With annual sales of about $1 billion, Barbie has been his primary focus. That's because until the world-famous doll recaptures the attention of today's kids, Mattel's turnaround will remain in doubt.
The revamping of the flagship doll has included adding versions with darker skin and wider hips. Both were intended to counter long-standing gripes from advocacy groups that the Barbie line portrayed unrealistic body types and didn't cater to members of minority groups.
Mattel thrilled investors in February when it reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter as Barbie increased sales for the first time in more than two years.
First-quarter results released Wednesday were less encouraging. Mattel shares fell after posting a larger first-quarter loss than analysts estimated on weak sales of Barbie dolls, suggesting the turnaround had stalled.
Excluding some items, the loss was 13 cents a share in the quarter, Mattel said in a statement. Analysts had estimated a loss of 7 cents a share on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The stock fell as much as 9.4 percent to $29.95 on Thursday, the biggest intraday drop since January 2015. Through Wednesday's close, the shares had advanced 22 percent this year.
Mattel's miss with Hello Barbie isn't all bad, Silver said.
The company didn't make a big bet on the product, shipping only an estimated 10,000 units, compared with 250,000 for a hit toy, he said. The doll, powered by artificial intelligence similar to the technology used by Apple Inc.'s Siri software, also garnered the brand plenty of headlines and thrust it into technology media for the first time.
"I always looked at Hello Barbie as a prototype car," Silver said. "You create prototypes to create buzz."
While Mattel wouldn't say whether it's making another version of the doll, it does plan to release new toys with artificial intelligence.
"Hello Barbie is representative of Mattel's relentless goal to push boundaries and question limits," Alex Clark, a spokesman for El Segundo, Calif.,'s Mattel, said in an email.
In addition to generating publicity, Hello Barbie drew criticism when it was unveiled in February 2015. One group, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said its Web connection and speech-recognition software had the potential to violate children's privacy. Others raised concerns that it could be hacked, possibly exposing children to criminals. Mattel responded by saying there were safeguards in place, and released the doll nine months later.
"With how much it was in the news, it made Barbie a topic of discussion again," Silver said.
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