Mattel Shares Jump 18% on Report of $6 Billion Takeover Interest From Authentic Brands Group

Mattel stock closed up about 18% at $15.04 a share on Thursday, October 1, after the Wall Street Journal reported that brand-licensing giant Authentic Brands Group has been privately discussing a takeover that could value the toymaker north of $20 a share, or roughly $6 billion, according to Reuters, which cited a source familiar with the matter. CNBC reported shares traded just above $15 Thursday afternoon, with a person familiar with the talks confirming discussions are underway but "very preliminary."

There's no formal sale process. Mattel's spokesperson told CNBC the company doesn't "comment on market rumors or speculation." Authentic Brands didn't respond to Reuters' or CNBC's requests for comment.

The rally reverses a rough Wednesday, September 30, when Mattel shares fell about 4% to $12.66 after the company announced CEO Ynon Kreiz is stepping down. Kreiz, who has run Mattel since 2018, is leaving to become co-CEO of the newly combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery alongside David Ellison, effective October 5, according to Paramount's announcement. Roger Lynch, the outgoing Condé Nast CEO and a Mattel board member since 2018, takes over as Mattel's chairman on October 2 and becomes CEO by November 2.

Reuters noted that Lynch's incoming transition, per the Journal's reporting, could complicate any Authentic Brands deal as the new CEO works out his own strategy before any buyer gets serious.

Why Authentic Brands Is Circling

Authentic Brands, run by founder Jamie Salter and CEO Matt Maddox since Salter moved to executive chairman in May, has built its empire buying distressed brands and licensing them out. Its portfolio already includes Reebok, Brooks Brothers, Sports Illustrated, Guess and Van Heusen, and it added Dockers from Levi Strauss earlier this year, according to Reuters and Free Malaysia Today. A person familiar with the Mattel talks told CNBC the approach makes sense because Authentic has been pushing into kids' entertainment and hospitality properties, where Mattel's Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price and Thomas & Friends brands sit.

Mattel has been under pressure to explore this kind of option. In May, investor Southeastern Asset Management publicly pushed Kreiz to consider going private, selling to rival Hasbro, or finding a media buyer willing to value Mattel's intellectual property above what the stock market was pricing in, per Reuters. Mattel stock is down 33% so far in 2026, hurt by tariff-related costs and what Reuters described as weak consumer spending amid higher fuel costs and interest rates, even as the company keeps trying to build an entertainment business around its toy brands following the 2023 "Barbie" movie.

The Merger That Opened the Door

Kreiz's exit is a direct byproduct of Paramount's $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery clearing its last major legal obstacle. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled, according to Breitbart's reporting of the Associated Press account, that a consent decree settling a lawsuit from 12 states was a "fair, reasonable, and good faith approach" to the competitive harms those states alleged. California Attorney General Rob Bonta led that suit, filed in July, which sought to block the merger outright over fears it would reduce choices for moviegoers and cable customers.

The settlement, reached September 21, commits Paramount to boosting U.S. film production over five years, funding support for workers displaced by the merger, and establishing new editorial monitoring of CNN and CBS. Bonta framed the deal as being about "protecting people's careers, the lives they've built here in California," while insisting it wasn't an endorsement of the merger itself.

Critics weren't satisfied. The Block The Merger coalition, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and Democratic Senator Cory Booker all pushed for a tougher review, with Booker writing to the court calling for deeper scrutiny. Judge Martínez-Olguín gave outside groups a window to file amicus briefs and said flatly that her court isn't a "rubber stamp." In the end, she concluded the critics' objections "do not rise to the level of legal violations" that would justify blocking the settlement.

A government-brokered requirement that a private media company submit CNN and CBS to new "editorial monitoring" as a condition of a merger settlement raises questions about state-mandated newsroom oversight, regardless of which side's lawsuit produced it. Whether that monitoring amounts to meaningful oversight or just a face-saving concession to the states that sued isn't resolved in any of the court filings reported so far.

With the settlement cleared, Paramount has said it aims to close the Warner Bros. Discovery deal as soon as early October, merging CNN, HBO Max, CBS and the Paramount+ streaming service with Top Gun and Harry Potter all under one corporate roof.

What's Unresolved

Mattel's board, now led by incoming chairman Lynch starting October 2, hasn't launched any formal sale process and faces no deadline to respond to Authentic Brands. Whether a real offer materializes, and whether Lynch's own strategic plan for Mattel aligns with being acquired at all, remains an open question neither company has addressed on the record.