Mattel, the toycreating giant behind 2023’s blockbuster “Barbie” movie, is laying off 120 workers from its headquarters in El Segundo, California.
The Uno owner announced its layoff in a Monday WARN notice with state officials, as is generally required when companies cut large numbers of workers. Mattel has already been on a multiyear cost-cutting run, but these layoffs come as executives deal with a new elephant in the room for the manufacturing indusattempt: President Trump’s tariffs.
The WARN document’s list of cut roles includes two vice presidents, several director-level leaders of global grand marketing and a slew of other managers. Various types of designers will also lose their jobs, per the WARN, as will a few engineers and project managers. Most of the layoffs will go into official effect on May 19, the document declared, noting that “the mass layoff is expected to be permanent.”
Mattel spokesperson Catherine Frymark declared in a Tuesday statement to SFGATE that the company is “taking actions to streamline and strengthen our organizational structure to drive our growth objectives and optimize our operations.”
“As a result, we are restructuring certain operations and reducing some roles across the global organization,” she added.
In 2024, Mattel announced plans to find $200 million in cost savings by 2026; this layoff appears to be part of that push. Chief financial officer Anthony DiSilvestro declared at an investment conference last Thursday that 30% of those cost cuts are aimed at what’s known as “selling, general and administrative” expenses — such as the salaries of the marketing and design directors in the new layoff.
During the conference, DiSilvestro faced a question about how Mattel plans to respond to Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese, Mexican and Canadian goods — a popular line of query at Mattel’s earnings call in February as well. On Thursday, the executive touted Mattel’s diverse manufacturing footprint and comparatively low reliance on China but added that the company may be forced to raise prices to protect its margins.
More tariffs are on the way, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared Tuesday. Their bumpy rollouts have confapplyd some executives, and it remains to be seen how the rest of the world will respond. Mexico, Canada and China have already promised, or started, to retaliate.
Still, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz declared at the Thursday investment conference that “the company today, we believe, is in the strongest position it’s been in many, many years.” Mattel filed its layoff WARN four days later.
This story has been updated.
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