Ynon Kreiz
Chairman and CEO, Mattel
The biggest change in our approach and our DNA was to think of people who buy our products not just as consumers, but as fans, fans that have an emotional relationship with our brands. And when you have a lot of fans, it's an audience. And when you realize you're speaking to an audience, it's a different conversation.
Summary
This week on “Leadership Matters,” Alan was joined by an experienced leader in international media and the consumer toy business, Ynon Kreiz. Ynon is the Chairman and CEO of Mattel, a leading global toy company and owner of one of the world's strongest portfolios of children and family entertainment franchises. Since joining Mattel in 2018, Ynon has led a transformation of the company from a toy manufacturer to one that revolves around driving intellectual property.
In this conversation, Ynon and Alan discuss his upbringing in Israel, his time attending business school in the U.S., his career in the media industry and as an investor and how he is preparing Mattel to succeed in a changing consumer landscape. Ynon also discusses his belief that businesses should do good for the people and communities they represent.
Mentions & Resources in this Episode
Guest Bio
Ynon Kreiz is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mattel, a leading global toy company and owner of one of the strongest portfolios of children’s and family entertainment franchises in the world. He joined the company as CEO in April 2018 and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2018.
Mr. Kreiz has led a multi-year transformation strategy that established Mattel as an IP-driven, high-performing toy company. Under his leadership, Mattel has achieved significant improvements across multiple key financial metrics, grew its Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) almost eight-fold to nearly $1 billion, achieved Gross Billings growth for four consecutive years in constant currency, and meaningfully strengthened its balance sheet.
During Mr. Kreiz’s tenure, Mattel has established its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy and goals as published in its Citizenship Report. Mattel has also been recognized for its achievements in workplace culture and employee wellbeing by Forbes, Time, Fast Company, the Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America, the Great Place to Work Institute, and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.
Under Mr. Kreiz’s leadership, Mattel Films has announced 14 live-action motion pictures in active development with major studio partners and the company’s first movie, “Barbie,” was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in summer 2023. Mattel Television has expanded its content offering and reaches audiences across 191 countries in 37 languages. Mattel also has a growing offering in digital gaming through licensing partnerships, game tie-ins, and standalone releases.
Mr. Kreiz has had extensive experience as a corporate leader in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining Mattel, he was Chairman and CEO of Maker Studios, a global leader in short-form video content and one of YouTube’s largest multichannel networks. Maker Studios was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2014.
Prior to Maker Studios, Mr. Kreiz was Chairman and CEO of the Endemol Group, the world's largest independent television production company and owner of major programming franchises including Big Brother and Deal or No Deal. Under Mr. Kreiz’s management, Endemol produced more than 10,000 hours of programming a year. He also strengthened the company’s creative output, expanded into scripted content, and built its distribution business.
Before Endemol, Mr. Kreiz was a General Partner at Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe), one of the leading early-stage startup investors in Europe.
Prior to Balderton, Mr. Kreiz co-founded Fox Kids Europe NV where he served as Chairman and CEO. Under his leadership, Fox Kids became one of the fastest growing pay TV channels in Europe and the Middle East and operated pay TV channels across 54 countries, broadcasting in 17 languages. The majority ownership of Fox Kids Europe NV was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2002.
Mr. Kreiz received a BA degree in Economics and Management from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He serves on the Board of Directors of Warner Music Group and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the UCLA Anderson School of Management as well as the Paley Center for Media. Mr. Kreiz is also a member of Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Executive Branch.
Episode Transcript
Alan Fleischmann
I'm joined today by an experienced leader in the media and consumer toy business. Ynon Kreiz is the Chairman and CEO of Mattel, a leading global toy company and owner of one of the world's strongest portfolios of children and family entertainment franchises in the world. Mattel operates in over 35 locations, and its products are sold in over 150 countries. The company made a big splash this year when it helped produce the Barbie movie, which became a global phenomenon that has grossed over $1.4 billion in sales. Since joining Mattel's leadership in 2018, Ynon has led revolutionary growth at the company through restructuring the toy side of the business while also expanding Mattel's other intellectual properties. Prior to joining Mattel, Ynon worked at several multimedia companies, including Maker Studios, and as a co-founder at Fox Kids Europe, where he gained valuable experience scaling media across markets. He also worked at Balderton Capital, a European venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups.
It is such a pleasure to have him on the show today discuss his fascinating career, and the lessons in leadership that he's learned along the way. Ynon, welcome to Leadership Matters.
Ynon Kreiz
Hi Alan, thank you for inviting me. Great to be here.
Alan Fleischmann
I’m glad you're here. So, let’s talk a little bit about your background. You were born and raised in Tel Aviv in Israel. Can you tell us little bit about life at home, what your parents did growing up, what was it like for you around the house as a young man?
Ynon Kreiz
Yes, well, I grew up in a middle-class family. My father was an engineer. My mother was a psychologist. My father was born in Israel before the country was formed. My mother was born in Austria and grew up in England, and moved to Israel in her 20s. So, my background was split between, a core Sabra-Israeli background and a mother that had family outside of the country with relatives and friends that often would visit us, and we would travel back in the day to visit that side of the family that was outside of the country. So mixed –
Alan Fleischmann
You had global perspectives. From day one, you couldn't help but have a global perspective I imagine.
Ynon Kreiz
Yes, it was formative days to grow up in Israel at the time and still have exposure and a real feel for the markets and the world outside of our country.
Alan Fleischmann
I love the term Sabra for those who were born in Israel, you’re called a Sabra. I love that term, because that means you're tough and prickly a little bit on the outside, but sweet on the inside. Isn't that where it comes from? I've always thought that was the case at least.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right.
Alan Fleischmann
The cactus.
Ynon Kreiz
Sweet and soft on the inside.
Alan Fleischmann
Yeah, exactly. Which is, you know, how to be tough and loving at the same time. Tell me a little bit, any brothers and sisters growing up?
Ynon Kreiz
One sister who's two years younger than me, she lives in Israel. But we grew up in a neighborhood that was small and always felt like one big family, very close. And in fact, I still keep in touch with friends from my elementary school and kindergarten back in the day. I always valued in Israel that sense of belonging and family and close friends that you still keep in touch with.
Alan Fleischmann
And now with modern technology you can stay in regular touch through FaceTime and through Zoom and everything else.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right.
Alan Fleischmann
And then, did anything stand out to you, experiences, exposure to leadership opportunities as you were growing up in school?
Ynon Kreiz
You know at the time, back in the day to your point where technology was not as prevalent, it was harder to gain exposure to the world outside of your day-to-day life. But, through my upbringing I did get some of it and you know, life at the time was fulfilling with many friends, a rich social life, outdoor activities, sports, and all in all, a good wholesome upbringing in the country. Whether you look back and make it sound better than it used to be is one thing, but I actually think it was a great upbringing in Israel at the time.
Alan Fleischmann
It sounds idyllic, it sounds beautiful because you were surrounded by family and other families that became extended members of your family as well.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right.
Alan Fleischmann
All of a sudden, you’re part of a village in a big city.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right.
Alan Fleischmann
Which is pretty amazing. Did you have any great mentors or teachers along the way that kind of stood out?
Ynon Kreiz
Not in Israel and during my upbringing, even though I really enjoyed time at school with great schools, both in elementary and high school. And of course, I had my undergraduate degree, my B.A. from Tel Aviv University. And then I came to America to get my MBA and ultimately, my Ph.D with Haim Saban. So that was my educational journey along the way.
Alan Fleischmann
And when you went into Tel Aviv University where you studied economics and management, did you think you were gonna go for a graduate degree at that point?
Ynon Kreiz
Yes, at that time that was exactly my plan actually, to really – after the service I was planning to travel for two years, come back to Israel to do my undergraduate study for three years. And I was, at the time, already planning to do my MBA in the U.S. And I selected the course in Tel Aviv University that would best prepare me to get into a good school in America and get my MBA at one of the better schools in the country. And that was my goal, and it was a seven-year plan back in the day that, at least in terms of fulfilling it in studies and travel, work worked out well.
Alan Fleischmann
And did you meet Haim Saban while you were at UCLA? Or did you already have the connectivity to him that led you to UCLA?
Ynon Kreiz
No, it was after UCLA, after graduating from UCLA. I wanted to find the right opportunity in the media industry. I wasn't looking for a job, I thought I would do something more entrepreneurial. But I was networking and meeting people across media and entertainment. And when we met, I wasn't looking for a job and he wasn't looking to hire anyone. But we hit it off. There was no Israeli connection between us at the time, the person who made the introduction was American, which is rare, because in Israel there's normally you would say two degrees of separation between two people. But here, there was no connection from Israel that put us together. It was a mutual friend that introduced us and we hit it off and he said, “Why don't you join me, I'll give you an office, a secretary and a phone and we're going to go and do great things together.” And that sounded like a great job description to me, even though I wasn't looking for one. But I joined Haim and I had a great run with him for very important formative years.
Alan Fleischmann
You started off, it's unusual because you came right out of university, he in essence asked you to be his partner rather than coming to be as employee based on that description. And you were quite young I imagine, was he well known at that point?
Ynon Kreiz
He had a production company. The Power Rangers just started to become a big hit. I joined initially in a business development capacity and for the first year, I literally just spent time learning the business. I wasn't contributing much. You know, and bearing in mind that up until that point my longest work experience before I met Haim was one year as a windsurfing instructor meant that he took a risk on me in that, you know, I didn't have a lot of experience.
But the important thing that we did together at the time was the joint venture with Fox to create Fox Family Worldwide, with Saban being 50% owner, together with Newscorp ultimately via Fox. And I was involved in that transaction, and we were looking for someone that would run the European business, that would launch the international business. A big part of this transaction was to take the Fox Kids brand from America that was already,, at the time the leading children's network in broadcast, take that brand with the Saban library and export that internationally. The combination of the Fox Kids brand and the Saban library. And we were looking to hire someone that would do it, that would launch it in Europe. And I put the list of candidates together, we worked with search firms to find the right people. And we couldn't quite get the right person to do that in terms of experience, availability and background and cultural fit.
And as we're going through the list to find the candidate, Haim says, “You know what, why don't you do it? You go and launch it and run this business internationally.” And I said, you know what, okay, I will. And he asked me, “When will you start.” I said, I just did. “Where from?” Because he had the production office in Paris, that was the only office outside of the U.S. So that could have been an option. But I suggested London because it was more internationally oriented and language was easier. And when we were going through the list we were on our way to New York, and I actually never came back to LA. I just continued from New York straight to London, camped in a hotel for two months and rented an office on my way to JFK as I'm heading to London, and rented the two rooms. And that's how we started that business. And we ended up building a European company, a Pan-European children's entertainment company, with offices all over Europe in all the major European markets and the Middle East. We built a network of local children’s channels across the region in local languages, and eventually took the company public and ultimately sold the whole group to Disney.
And by the time we sold the group to Disney, Fox Kids was a leading children's channel in pay TV. We were in 54 countries, broadcasting in 54 countries via pay TV, we had some broadcast operations. And it was a particularly important experience in that it was leveraging technology that opened up at the time, digital television, and we were able to compete effectively through a very strong local approach that set us apart from our competitors that were primarily American companies that were broadcasting in English into local European markets. And, you know, in hindsight, what made us successful, especially at the time, was not the library, because we couldn't compete in terms of content with Disney and Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, it was really a very strong local approach that we executed very effectively on the ground with local teams that we put together
Alan Fleischmann
In local languages too, right?
Ynon Kreiz
Right. And today is, you know, really, you can say its table stakes to broadcast in local languages. Back in the day was a novelty. And clearly, when you try to cater and serve children in local European markets, you need to do it in local language, you can't do it in English. And it's not enough to add subtitles, you have to dub it and do it in local languages. And this is an approach that we deployed across the region and allowed us to be so successful and become the leading children's channel in Europe and the Middle East.
Alan Fleischmann
And what year was this, what years were these?
Ynon Kreiz
This is ’96, And we sold the company in 2002.
Alan Fleischmann
And that's also where you expanded in the Middle East as well, right? It was all over Europe, right?
Ynon Kreiz
Yeah, so we launched it in ’96, took the company public, the European entity we took public, Fox News Europe. And we traded on the stock exchange in Amsterdam, and the whole group was sold to Disney in 2002.
Alan Fleischmann
And where was it strongest, where was the footprint strongest across Europe in the Middle East at that point?
Ynon Kreiz
We were in every major European market. We had over 500 distribution agreements with all the major pay TV and satellite companies, and expanded also into original production and consumer products and merchandise and were able to produce local productions, original productions in each of the key markets to add the local flair and local DNA to each of these offerings. And what is unique is that we took a library that was pretty diverse, but 85% of the library, we serve the niche market, and with about 15% being local. But those 15% were crucial to give it the local flair, local context, local look and feel that made those channels very successful in each and every market where they were broadcasting. And that gave us that advantage of the time.
Alan Fleischmann
That's amazing. How much was it in those days of person-to-person deal making? You really won not by content, you built the content over time because you said Disney had all the content, you built it by the rigor of building trust and creating a network of distribution across Europe and the Middle East. That had to be a lot of in-person meetings, I imagine, during that period as well.
Ynon Kreiz
Yeah, especially back in the day where it was all about the in-person connectivity, you know, even mobile phones were not that prevalent at the time, let alone emails and Zoom calls. So yes, it took a lot of execution on the ground, traveling the region, traversing the landscape in forming those relationships.
Alan Fleischmann
Were there any limits to you, I'm curious, because you were Israeli or was that not an issue? I mean, I'm sure there had to be some issue there. But you may have just plowed through it. I'm hearing a little bit about you being a bit of a pioneer in lots of areas of how you did things, the way you did things, even the idea that you could be having a conversation with Haim and you're looking through a list of candidates and not getting them and he looks at you and says “You, why not you?” and then you, with an enormous amount of agility and flexibility, almost the same way you said yes to the job when he offered it the first time. There's an element to you that I'm getting here that's pretty amazing, where there's a there's a humility, but a competency goes along with that, why not me? And I'll do it.
Ynon Kreiz
Yes, you know, growing up in Israel, there's always a sense, that you jump into the pool and you're worried about whether there's water in the pool later, forget how deep the water is. And so, it's about finding ways to achieve the goal with innovation, but also make sure that you approach it in a systemic way. So, it's not about improvisation, but you know, you're gonna jump in and figure it out in real time. And as long as you know that there's enough there there, there is an opportunity. There's an asset or a domain where you can actually make an impact and figure out a way to achieve what you're trying to what you're trying to do.
Alan Fleischmann
I mean, there's definitely a level of courage or there's chutzpah, right, but there's definitely a level of if not us, why not? You know that I am going to do this, which you imagine things that haven't been done before. And because you did compete with some really towering institutions like Disney, you kind of invented a marketplace that they didn't have, but they could have had, but just didn't see what you saw and then say, let's do it and let's move quickly to establish it. It's pretty amazing, actually.
Ynon Kreiz
Yeah, you know, I never had time to sit back and reflect at the time, but there was clearly – we did have to compete with a lot less resources. And often this makes you more innovative and more creative in your approach. And I always believe that you need to find ways to break convention and do things in a different way, in a new way. By definition, if you try to do the same thing that everyone else is applying, you will end up like them. And so, the only chance you have to overtake your competitor is to be to take a different tack, a different approach. And it doesn't guarantee success, but at least you have a chance in overtaking them if you take a different tack.
Alan Fleischmann
That’s such a profound thing to say, because too often people think, and what happens often when people go to business school too, that they just look at case studies of things that other people have done. And they say, okay, I should do that, too. I think Bill Gates said it's the biggest mistake of any entrepreneur, he looks around or she looks around and sees things that other people did and say, “Oh, I'll do that, too.” And the reality is, there's a reason why they were successful. There was no one ahead of them that said, I'll do it that way. And they created something that was never created before, and they missed that part. And too often people say, I'll do what they did. And it sounds like your whole career has been not to do it differently for differently’s sake, but to see an opportunity where there isn't one.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right. I think there's a lot to learn from what other people did, but it is about finding a new and original way to do what you're trying to achieve, especially in a competitive landscape. And that approach has served me well along the way in trying to find an original way, a new way that does break convention and cover things from another angle. And then it's not that, you know, it's not that you don't participate in a game with other players, because you also operate within a certain environment. So you’ve got to be sensitive and mindful of the way things are done. But within that frame, what is your approach? What is new that you bring to the table? You know, in Israel there's a term, a word, tachless, which means to the point, what is the point, what are you trying to do, or what is the bottom line? There's not quite the exact term in English, but that focus on what is that you're trying to achieve, what is the most effective way to get there, I think it's something that is really important to keep in mind in anything you do, not just professionally. What am I trying to achieve here? And if you have that focus, I think it helps, it's half the battle, knowing what you're trying to achieve. And then once you define that, at least you know where are you aiming and what are you trying to do.
Alan Fleischmann
And what you don't want to do, and then you can look at those examples and say, I can do it differently. Because I know where I want to go with it, I don't want to go where they went. Where they went is already so well established. It's funny. There's some words that are hard to translate. A couple of years into building Laurel Strategies, my firm, someone said, you know, I know the business you're in, you're in the Seful business. And it was a word that I didn't fully know how to express or explain to others why that was a compliment, not an insult and why that was actually a good thing. There's certain words, tachless or Seful, other words in there that I, you feel them, but you don't necessarily know how to express them in words. They’re emotive, whether they have anything else, but I think that's a great word and a great way to describe it.
Was there a sense of great satisfaction when you sold Fox Kids Europe, when you actually moved from that. That must have been at a very short window, actually, you built something again, and then you actually sold it. And then you went into Balderton Capital, which I mentioned earlier, which I guess had been Benchmark Capital before that. You’re a natural leader and operator at that point, you had been both the creative, innovative leader with your colleagues, and you also were an operations leader. It must have been an unusual decision for you to then go and want to be, I guess, in essence, to join a venture capital firm in Europe and be an investor. Now looking back, it's brilliant. You have all these different aspects of your leadership. But I wonder if that was a big deal at that point to kind of branch away from being operationally in charge to actually being an investor.
Ynon Kreiz
So, after selling the company to Disney I actually worked at Disney for a period to facilitate the transition. And at the end of that, I was looking at new opportunities for me to invest and be an active board member, active investor in smaller early-stage companies. And having had a few investments that I was running, I found myself in a venture in the venture capital world and that's when I met the partners at Benchmark in Europe, and they offered me to join their platform, which was very appealing. Although it would be less concentrated in my own portfolio alone, I joined the platform with more investments and more capital and worked with smart people. And it was an interesting time for me, even though I do enjoy operating, and I like that part of the equation. It was an eye-opening experience for me to work as an investor and meet entrepreneurs and focus on new technologies and try at the time also to find new economic models. That was a three-year period.
And I did have the age to go back to be an operator. And after Benchmark, that became Balderton in that phase, changed the name, I joined Endemol, which, at the time, was shortly after the company was acquired by Three Partners Media Set, which was the largest broadcasting group in Europe that was owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs and the investment arm of John de Mol, who was the founder of Endemol. Endemol was acquired about a year before I joined it, it was a leveraged buyout, one of the last major buyouts at the time in Europe just before the financial crisis in 2008. So, I joined in June of 2008. The financial crisis at the time was in September, very shortly after I joined and all of our plans that we put together before or as I joined had to be redrawn. And manage a company heading into a lot of unknown at the time with our business of selling programs to major broadcasting channels that the most of their business came from advertising with the advertising market being confined or impacted by the financial crisis at that time, changed the economic equilibrium. And we had to manage a company in a challenging landscape, and also reevaluate and repurpose our business model with a pretty heavy restructuring, and also evolve our business model from pure reality television in game shows, to expand into scripted television, which back in the day, today it is obvious, back in the day was a new dimension for Endemol at the time. And also grow our distribution business where we sell finished content into major broadcasters all over the world, rather than focus purely on the production of game shows and reality content. So that was another very formative experience as well.
Alan Fleischmann
it's amazing, actually. I get to look at your life looking at where you are today and the tapestry of all the things that you've that you've done along the way. It just speaks volumes to why it all led to this. But I'm sure at the time, though, you couldn't imagine that. Or maybe you could, but maybe others didn’t. Maybe you always imagined it, I'm curious, I want to ask you about that.
You're listening to Leadership Matters on SiriusXM, and on leadershipmattersshow.com. I'm your host, Alan Fleischmann, and I'm here today with Ynon Kreiz, who's the chairman and CEO of Mattel. And we're discussing his journey, his life, his career which is amazingly fascinating and very pioneering, actually, and how he created so much and what we now consider and expect from him as the CEO of Mattel.
When you were at Endemol, when you were the CEO there how long were you there? It was the world's largest television production company conglomerate, I guess is a good way to put it. And how long were you there altogether?
Ynon Kreiz
Endemol was basically a composition of over 80 production companies all over the world. And part of the approach was to turn it from a confederation into one company that leveraged its scale, rather than have separate entities operating in isolation. And that was, you worked with some of the most creative people in the television industry and the idea was to share ideas, share formats, share innovation, and translate on and literally translate and import them to other countries and create a model that was scalable, that leveraged creativity. And in some ways, many of the things that I applied at Fox Kids in working across different countries and different cultures and finding the right way to adapt a common asset. During Fox Kids, it was a library. In the case of Endemol it was a format, database or format inventory and ideas that you had to apply and commercialize, and leverage at the time. Also, the dislocation of technology and the original market where you operated and finding new ways to grow that business in leveraging creativity, and finding the right commercial model for the business at the time. So that was also a very good experience at a larger scale, working with creative people and amplifying creativity, and at the same time finding that, you know, artists are bringing together art and science in leveraging creativity to build that company.
Alan Fleischmann
And it built structure and infrastructure at the same time. How do you encourage innovation and creativity and entrepreneurship at the same time? It sounds like you did both. But then they're hard to do. When you get too focused on one and you forget about the other.
Ynon Kreiz
Exactly, because the strength of the company in one level at the time was the fact that you do have entrepreneurs that run their own production companies in their markets, each of them being in many, not each, but in most cases, many of them were the largest and most important producer of their country. So, you want to maintain that entrepreneurship and strengthen leadership, local leadership, and creativity and innovation. But at the same time, the idea and the opportunity was to bring it together so that size is an advantage and not a handicap, and you're able to leverage their ideas and their innovation to amplify the entire platform and not just one country or another. So that is the art and science that I refer to in finding the right equilibrium between creativity and innovation and entrepreneurship, and still operating within a large enterprise that is looking to grow and continue to innovate and gain share and strengthen its position.
Alan Fleischmann
And then from there, when did that chapter end at Endemol? And then you went to become Chairman and CEO of Maker Studio, and is there a connection between the two?
Ynon Kreiz
So, when I left Endemol I was looking for the next opportunity in media.
Alan Fleischmann
And by the way, did you do all this from London? Were you still based in London?
Ynon Kreiz
That's right. So, I moved to London. And after just about six years in Los Angeles, I moved to London and I ended up living in London all in for about 15 years. And that started with Fox Kids, and then Balderton and then Endemol. And at the time, I was attracted to YouTube and short form as a space and believed that short form and social media or content within social media would become an important part of the entertainment industry. And I invested in different companies, but one of them was in that space. And that was Maker Studios. at the time, there was someone who said to me back in the day, there were about 2,000 companies in the space, all different forms and colors and a whole cottage industry. And this number was more illustrative of how early that industry was at the time, you know, the short-form space and the YouTube ecosystem. And I met with dozens of companies looking to invest in and pick a winner that I would be involved with. And of all these companies I decided to invest in Maker Studios.
And initially I was non-executive Chairman of the company and, as I said, that was one of the portfolio companies I invested in. And I was a big believer in the space and in the opportunity. Because of internal changes with the company at the time, I was asked to come in manage it as CEO. And I effectively moved to Los Angeles for that, to do it on the ground. And again, this was another quick transition that happened within a week where there was a need to jump in and become acting CEO.
We were, as a family, we were in the process of moving to New York. And already, this was because of other companies I had that were based in New York that I invested in that that were based in New York. And we already registered all four kids to the one school we wanted and paid the nonrefundable deposit for the first school year. And then the Maker Studio situation transpired and literally within a week, we changed plans and decided to move to LA instead of New York. And I give all credit to my wife who was very flexible and agile, that instead of New York it would be LA and we ended up coming to LA. Actually, for the first few months I was commuting to LA before the family moved. And eventually they joined me, but I joined Maker Studios as Chairman and CEO. And that was during the early days of YouTube as a platform. And we also at the time had to define our opportunity and how do we leverage technology to build a scalable economic model. And we effectively created what became one of the leading companies in the ecosystem and one of YouTube's biggest partners in terms of aggregating content and scaling a commercial model. And we built a great company, it was a relatively short run because within a year of coming in as CEO, Disney acquired Maker Studios. And back in that time we raised additional capital, we put together a new strategy, changed many of the key players within the company, built a technology that scaled and allowed us to generate, if my memory serves me correctly, about 13 or 14 billion views a month. That was the largest in the space, and eventually sold the company to Walt Disney.
Alan Fleischmann
That's amazing. So Disney has been in your life for a long time. Disney has been a part of your journey quite often.
Ynon Kreiz
The throughline if there is one is coming into or joining companies that were in a transition and finding a way to marry a creative asset base with a new commercial model. I always aim to, even though I'm not a creative person per se in terms of I don't invent content, it's about how do you work with creative people? How do you amplify creativity? And how do you find the right commercial model leveraging technology in a dislocated market to create value for money stakeholders?
Alan Fleischmann
And I bet you can identify when something's good and creative and when someone's authentically and relevant with their creativity quite well.
Ynon Kreiz
Well, you know, I always believed in quality, in amplifying creativity, in believing in creative people, in trusting the creative process and knowing that when you get it right, when a creative execution works well, then the sky's the limit. And you can achieve great things commercially. But it has to start with strong, authentic, organic, quality content or creating.
Alan Fleischmann
Being really relevant.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right.
Alan Fleischmann
Let me ask you a question. You mentioned your children, your four children. When they moved to LA, how old were they? And your wife sounds like she's extraordinarily agile like you, which is why you guys did that so well. Because a lot of other people would have had a hard time making that move to New York and not make it and then make it to LA. How old were they when they moved to LA? And they had been living in London their whole life at that point, right?
Ynon Kreiz
Yes, they were all born in London. And we actually spent a gap here in Tel Aviv while I was commuting to New York and LA with the companies I invested in. And when we moved to LA, our eldest was eight or nine years old. Our youngest was three, three years old.
Alan Fleischmann
LA soon became home.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right. And we settled in LA. LA has been great to us, great school system and the children all felt very comfortable and very homey here with a lot of similarities, actually, in terms of weather and outdoors and opportunities to do sports, just like in Israel. And I actually, I really enjoyed my second tour of duty in Los Angeles, having been in LA in the 90s and again over the last 10 years. I really was excited to see how much Los Angeles evolved and it became such a more interesting city. More diverse, more cultural from not just media, but also technology and real estate, and art and museums and as a whole, became a very exciting, vibrant city that I found a lot more interesting than it was in the 90s. And so for that, it's great to have the children have the opportunity to be raised and spend time in Los Angeles.
Alan Fleischmann
That’s great. I want to get back to them and I'm curious what they're doing now and if they're all in LA, as well. And whether they also have similar interests that you have as well. One of these I thought, which is fascinating, is that Maker Studios really was supporting an enormous amount of independent artists as well, right? That was a big part of it. How many, I mean, the number I remember reading and hearing about was extraordinary.
Ynon Kreiz
65,000 creators, that were in different tiers. Clearly, you had the big superstars, but you also had the organic creators on the ground. And the idea was to create a funnel that attracted talent and was able to amplify and help commercialize the content on the platform. And in building that trust with creators and having a commercial platform that can create value for them as well while you work closely with YouTube was a key unlocker for the value that we created. And that was, you know, early days in short form and the early days for YouTube as YouTube was growing at an incredible pace to find our lane to grow and be an important contributor for that economy.
Alan Fleischmann
It's amazing. How long were you chair of Maker Studios?
Ynon Kreiz
Well, I was Chairman for a year before I became CEO and then I was CEO and Chairman for a year until we sold it to Disney. And then I worked at Disney for another year and a half after that during what was called at the time “the earn-out period,” but it was also part of the integration working closely within the Walt Disney Company to embed the platform in it.
Alan Fleischmann
You had seen that movie before.
Ynon Kreiz
I really admire the Walt Disney Company. It's the ultimate IP company and I learned a lot while I was there. And obviously, along the way, I stayed in touch with the Walt Disney Company and really grew to admire and see how they commercialize and continue to evolve around strong IP and strong brands. And always focusing on quality and doing the right thing for their audience, for the fans, for their constituents. And that has been a very formative discipline that I learned while I was In the Walt Disney Company. And some of that we also apply at Mattel today in terms of approach to creativity, innovation, capturing value from our intellectual properties and continue to evolve our business model.
Alan Fleischmann
Well tell us a little bit about that now, because I know we're going to run out of time which makes me very frustrated, we haven't really gotten to Mattel yet. You are described as having led the most remarkable turnaround for any company financially. You came in in 2018, became CEO Mattel, how did that happen? And then, if I recall you were the fourth of four CEOs in a very short window at Mattel, and in the midst of some real difficult challenges. And then when I said earlier, when I think of all the things that you did, not that anything would ever look easy because everything you did was imagining the impossible. But it's all seemed to prepare you for where you were in 2018 and where you've been since that allowed you deep understanding of art and talent, deep understanding of structure and operations, deep understanding of global technology opportunities, and how do you actually create out of tradition, transformation, and add a true transformation not forgetting tradition. Mattel is built on both. But I would say built on both the transformation side since 2018, and you've never seem to overlook that you are inheriting something that was built on a lot of really extraordinary tradition as well. I'm just curious about that, because it really is amazing.
Ynon Kreiz
Yeah, it's interesting, because yes, many of the things I've done before played a role in how I approached the Mattel opportunity in terms of working with creative talent, working in a complex environment, competitive landscape, a company that has been in transition, a changing landscape, and trying to leverage technology and market dislocation to create and implement the new commercial model for the company.
You know, Mattel is one of the most iconic companies in corporate America. And at the time, my approach, my thesis was to come at it from another perspective. Back in the day, the company was talking about itself or describing itself as a toy manufacturing company, with emphasis on manufacturing. And the opportunity that excited me was to think of the company not as a manufacturing company that was making items, but as an IP company that is managing franchises. The biggest change in our approach and our DNA was to think of people who buy our products not just as consumers, but as fans, fans that have an emotional relationship with our brands. And when you have a lot of fans, it's an audience. And when you realize you're speaking to an audience, it's a different conversation. And, with that, it creates a whole new set of opportunities for us. And it's not that we don't make toys, we do make toys and we love that part of the business. It's doing both that, becoming a high-performing toy company, but also as an IP company. A company that owns intellectual properties and strong brands, one of the strongest brand portfolios in the world, appeal to audiences globally and participate in highly accredited business verticals outside of the toy aisle, to grow our business, and break convention, do things in new and original ways to excite and delight fans all over the world.
Alan Fleischmann
And there's over a dozen films, for example, I bet you before you walked in the door, and no one ever would have thought that part of this incredible platform is enterprise having film, TV, digital gaming, live experiences, this idea of taking these fans who love your tradition and using technology and innovation to give them more. And I mean, the films, Barbie being one of them, obviously a pretty phenomenal one of them, is now a big part of what you do. Again, looking back at your journey, it's amazing.
Ynon Kreiz
Yeah, you know it's not that people didn't think well, why not make a Barbie movie? Because there were attempts to make a Barbie movie. What changed was the approach. The idea was, you know, is to create quality content that people want to watch and not make movies in order to sell toys. The idea was, we're not here to make movies in order to sell toys. And in fact, we are not here to make movies just so that we make movies, the idea was to great cultural events and societal moments around our brands. Because our brands, the opportunity that was so exciting is to realize that our brands have societal impact, much more than what they represented within the toy world. And once you realize, okay, the portfolio that we own, the brand portfolio that we own is very unique and has heritage and societal value, if you focus on quality and you create content that people want to watch, good things will happen. And we will sell a lot of toys without even trying to do it, or embedding those toys in the movie. But you know, if you make quality content that people want to watch, that will resonate with fans, we will sell more toys, but also importantly, continue to evolve our business outside of the toy aisle and unlock the opportunity, the value that we have in our brands.
Alan Fleischmann
There’s something really amazing here because you have been such an innovator and you've been so focused on, you know, riding this wave or even leading this wave around digital transformation. But at the same time along the way we talked about earlier when you first went to London, the in-person-to-person aspect of this from a B2B aspect has been extraordinarily important to you. But it's also a great deal of respect to your colleagues, you're doing the same thing with your customers where you're respecting them and their personal connectivity to the different offerings. It's not just you're making toys, you're connecting them. And I know you're going to have a new theme park in Glendale, Arizona next year, you're figuring with the films to bring a whole new chapter and connectivity to your customers in a way that takes that technology. And normally when we hear technology and innovation, you think of people at a distance. You've managed to create them both so that they're actually enhancing one another in a way that actually creates connectivity out of respect for that customer who wants more intimacy, more interconnectivity, more opportunity.
Ynon Kreiz
That's right. And that's the virtuous cycle, having a strong, thriving toy business feeds into that fender that you can then take to other domains and build on that relationship that we have with consumers, build other businesses, such as film, television, theme parks, live events, consumer products and merchandise, digital experiences – all driven by big franchises and having a strong emotional bond between fans and products and experiences. And this is what we bring to the table. So they, you know, the journey on the toy side has been very exciting in and of itself, both financially for the company in how we took the company from $125 million of EBITDA to over a billion in four years. And became, in five years, we became investment grade, having started the journey with 25 times leverage ratio debt to EBITDA to adjusted EBITDA, we're now at around 2.3 or 2.4 and investment grade.
So, you know, we saw the results of that journey within the toy business materialize very successfully. And at the same time, we started to develop our IP strategy that, you know, will take time to deploy because of the focus on quality and the opportunity or the focus on working in partnership with some of the most prolific creators of our generation, and that takes its own choreography and time. So we've done both in parallel. And today, the company is a high-performing toy company, and our IP projects are starting to materialize. Barbie, the Barbie movie being a very important one, of course, that we really look at and think of it as a template, as a case study, as a reflection of what do we mean when we say that we are an IP company, that we are in the franchise management business, that we engage with fans, that we are able to leverage our capabilities in terms of demand creation to create what eventually became a cultural phenomenon. Of course, collaborating with the best partners in the world in what they do, both creative talent behind the camera and in front of the camera, with the major studios, with retailers, with marketing and the consumer product partners and bring it all together in eventually what would become a cultural event.
Alan Fleischmann
Anyway, what I love about this, and I'm gonna ask you in a minute to come back on for another hour, and we'll schedule another time. We've done this a few times, you're not worthy of one hour, honestly, we have to do two hours and if you're willing to do it, it will be worth it. One of the things that’s so striking to me when I hear you talk, and it's really about what you're doing and it's so humble the way you've done this. It's all been focused on putting an amazing amount of light on others in partnership with you and other talent. But it really is the composition, you're the conductor and the composer here that has brought it together. But your ESG strategy, your ESG strategies, your commitment to 100% recyclable plastic materials, the fact that you're naming new dolls after Cherokee Nation's leaders and Mariah Carey and other people. You're trying to not only create the greatest value proposition for your customer, your investors, your employees, but also a values proposition. You're transforming culture. We desperately need that right now among our leaders and I definitely want to spend time trying to talk about how one can be profitable with a purpose and one can be profitable with impact. And you're stunningly doing that.
Ynon Kreiz
I really believe strongly that as an enterprise, and as corporate leaders, we have to take a stand and we have to do the right thing for society. Every company can contribute and do things that matter. And especially a company like Mattel, given what we do and who we cater for, we have a really important role. And we say that we aim to contribute to a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and sustainable future. We can't do it alone and we can only take it so far. But we absolutely have to aim to contribute to do more and better for the future generations.
And one of the very first things we did was put together a very clear framework for our mission and purpose. What is our brand promise? What are our product attributes? What are our leadership values? And how do we articulate very clear goals that will advance us towards those objectives and what we stand for as an enterprise? And that served us very well, it transpired and evolved also to our product, and each of our brands has a very clear purpose that is beyond the physical play. Yes, we make great toys and great place systems, but each brand has a purpose that is the reason to be, and what is that brand? Then, what do those brands do in order to advance goals and purpose and mission as a company overall? And we're in a very fortunate position that we have brands that are timeless that we're making timely and through those brands, we have a voice, we speak to children and families in a way that is organic, that is authentic, that is endemic. And through those brands, we're able to carry our message and have real positive societal impact. And that's our goal. And that's something that is very important for us.
Alan Fleischmann
When I think about your earliest days as a kid in Tel Aviv, the way you describe your community, your village, that commitment to community, tradition, your commitment to tradition and this concept of tradition and transformation, how they're not always thought of together, you used a really important word earlier. We talked about only if it's quality. And you know, I ultimately think of this values proposition and how you're building an extraordinarily global, profitable, respected business or businesses based on that tradition, but using all the technology, all the innovation, all the creativity in order to serve your customer, your consumer, your employees even through what you're doing with making them proud every day to walk into a business that knows that it's actually trying to be profitable with a purpose. I mean, there's no company I know, and I've done a lot of interviews here and I work with CEOs around the world, there is no company I know that is doing more holistically around all those areas like you. And we’ve got to get your word out more, I want to have you on again for another hour because obviously your leadership lessons, what you've done also with the Olympic team in Israel and being an attaché there. Your wife's background sounds pretty amazing as well and what she is, but this idea of you can be fiercely competitive and fiercely collaborative and fiercely innovative, but also build things on tradition. And how all of them matter together and none of them should be separated is a concept that you don't see too often, or not often enough.
Ynon Kreiz
Thank you for saying that. Thank you for saying that.
Alan Fleischmann
It's really amazing. On behalf of Leadership Matters, and leadershipmattersshow.com here on SiriusXM, I've been your host Alan Fleischmann. We spent the last hour with Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and CEO of Mattel. We were discussing his journey, what he's created along the way, and just getting into what's been happening that is so extraordinary at Mattel, and hopefully another conversation to be had because there's just so much to learn at such a critical time when we're looking to business leaders to show us the way. This has been great, so great.
Ynon Kreiz
Thank you, Alan.