Quarterly profits at the electric vehicle, battery and robotics company fell to £865.8 million.
Day: July 24, 2025
In today’s newsletter: From mandatory age verification to criminal liability for non-compliant executives, the legislation marks a new era of digital accountability in keeping children safe online
Good morning. From tomorrow social media companies must introduce child safety measures under the Online Safety Act. It is a key moment for a British government attempting, like so many others, to rein in tech firms and prevent children encountering harmful content on the internet.
Passed by parliament in 2023, the landmark legislation significantly empowers the regulator Ofcom. Peter Kyle, the science and technology secretary, described the new codes as a “watershed moment” that turned the tide on “toxic experiences on these platforms”.
Israel-Gaza war | More than 100 aid agencies issued a dire warning that “mass starvation” was spreading across Gaza and urged Israel to let humanitarian aid in.
Environment | A “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right, according to judges at the top court of the United Nations, in a landmark advisory opinion about countries’ obligations to tackle climate change and the consequences they may face if they do not.
US news | Microsoft says Chinese “threat actors”, including state-sponsored hackers, have exploited security vulnerabilities in its SharePoint document-sharing servers, with research indicating that several hundred government agencies and organisations have been breached.
UK politics | Reform UK footed the bill for a £350 bottle of champagne at a luxury lunch and a £989-a-night hotel with hundreds of pounds in room service, its election campaign spending data shows.
Media | The BBC is to broadcast a series of MasterChef featuring Gregg Wallace and John Torode, filmed before the presenters were dropped after facing upheld allegations over their behaviour.
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- Mattel is having a hard time selling its Barbie dolls.
- The toy company saw its dolls category sales drop 19% in the latest quarter.
- Company execs said this was due to fewer new Barbie launches in the latest quarter.
Barbie dolls aren’t flying off the shelves for toymaker Mattel.
On Wednesday, the toy company reported in its second-quarter earnings that its dolls category revenue declined 19% compared to the same period last year. Sales for the dolls category were $335 million.
Mattel’s dolls product category includes brands like Barbie, American Girl, and Barney, among others.
In a Wednesday earnings call, Mattel’s newly installed finance chief, Paul Ruh, said the decline in doll sales was “primarily due to fewer new Barbie product launches.”
Mattel’s CEO, Ynon Kreiz, added that “lower associated retailer promotional support” contributed to weak doll sales.
However, the toymaker’s other brands performed better. Mattel’s vehicles product category, led by Hot Wheels, saw a 10% increase in sales in the last quarter compared to the year before, with sales of $407 million.
Kreiz said he expected doll sales to pick up in the second half of the year.
“In the dolls category, we’ll see improving trends with Barbie in the second half, new product innovation, more partnerships and activations later in the year,” Kreiz said in the earnings call.
The company reported a second-quarter net revenue decline of 6% compared to the year before, with sales totalling $1.02 billion. It also reported a net income of $53 million, $4 million less than the year before.
Mattel’s stock price was down nearly 5% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. However, it is up about 17% in the past year.
In May, Mattel announced that it would raise the prices of its toys, including Barbies, to offset the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Per Kreiz’s comments in the Wednesday earnings call, the price hike went into effect in the latest quarter.
“Even with the price actions — pricing actions were already implemented — approximately 40% to 50% of our product in the US will continue to be priced below $20,” Kreiz said in the call.
Representatives for Mattel did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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