Jack Friedman

Jack Friedman (July 9, 1939 – May 3, 2010) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, veteran of the toy and video game industries, and a philanthropist. Regarded as an influential member in the toy and video game industries, Friedman founded the three toy companies LJN, THQ, and Jakks Pacific; LJN and THQ later switched focus to video games.

History

Born in Queens, New York City in 1939, and raised Jewish by his mother, Friedman began his career in the 1960s as a sales representative for the toy company Norman J. Lewis Associates, selling plush toys and novelty items to stores along the East Coast.[1][2]

LJN Toys

After working at Norman J. Lewis, Friedman began considering his own concepts for toy products. In 1970, he formed LJN Toys Ltd., which created toy lines and video games based on movies, television shows and celebrities.

THQ

Friedman's next business venture was THQ. In 1990, Friedman founded THQ in Calabasas, California, with a personal investment of $1 million.[3] During the summer of 1991, Friedman agreed to have THQ acquired by Trinity Acquisition Corp., a publicly held shell corporation that had been organized to raise capital for an unspecified future venture, in a stock swap valued at about $33 million with THQ's shareholders owning 51.7% of the new entity.[4] Friedman became the president of the merged company.

During THQ's formative years, Friedman acquired licenses for Hollywood productions and focused the development of the company's video games on popular films. The company flourished at first, and Friedman sold his 46 percent stake in the company on its initial public offering, gaining $13 million. In 1992, THQ's sales greatly increased, jumping more than 70 percent, but the video game industry began to head towards a more technical focus. In an August 26, 2002, interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, Jakks Pacific's chief financial officer, Joel Bennett, explained the turn of events. "Then," Bennett said, referring to the early 1990s, "games were more like toys than technology." When the development of game software evolved toward the technological side, "it became beyond Jack's comfort zone," Bennett explained. "He's kind of a low-tech guy."

Frustrated and stuck in a business where he increasingly had no natural affinity for, Friedman struggled to remain content at THQ. After the company reported a $18 million loss for 1994, Friedman left to start another venture. To assist in the venture's start-up, Friedman asked his longtime friend Stephen G. Berman to co-found the company with him. Between 1988 and 1991, Berman had served as president of Balanced Approach, Inc., a distributor of personal fitness products and services. Berman then left Balanced Approach in 1991 to join Friedman at THQ, where he served four years as vice president and managing director of THQ International, Inc., a subsidiary of THQ, Inc.[5] THQ ceased operations in 2013.[6]

Jakks Pacific

In 1995, with almost $3 million in personal investment, Friedman co-founded the toy company Jakks Pacific with Berman.[1][7]

From the start, Friedman wanted to use Jakks Pacific to consolidate the fragmented toy industry. At the time, the industry was dominated by the "Big Two," Hasbro and Mattel, who together controlled one-third of the approximately $15 billion wholesale US toy industry. With plenty of room to grow the company to the ranks of Hasbro and Mattel, Friedman hoped to out-compete the hundreds of small competitors and the handful of medium-sized toy companies by acquiring their rivals and forging licensing agreements with other companies. During the company's first year, Friedman signed a licensing agreement with Titan Sports, at that time the parent company of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) whose popularity exploded during the 1990s, which secured an important source of revenue for the company. The exclusive, ten-year deal gave Jakks Pacific the rights to develop and market a line of action figures based on the WWF's wrestling personalities, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker. For the next several years, Jakks Pacific attained much of its growth from the licensing agreement and the thousands of WWF action figures that were produced, similar to how Hasbro began their growth through sales of G.I. Joe.[5]

As the toy industry struggled with low profits, in 1999, the company was selected as one of the country's fastest-growing companies by Fortune magazine, a distinction it would earn for the next two years.[8]

Friedman had a fondness for classic toys—die-cast collectible cars, metal trucks, bulldozers—and a business strategy that revolved around licensing toys and acquiring other companies. One company Jakks bought was Toymax, which made Funnoodle pool products such as pool noodles. It also developed a line of toys with Nickelodeon and manufactures products for Disney, Hello Kitty, Cabbage Patch Kids and many other well-known brands.

In April 2010, Friedman retired as CEO and accepted the position of Chairman Emeritus to spend more time with his family. Co-founder and friend Stephen Berman succeeded him as CEO.[2]

birth date	July 9, 1939
birth place	New York City, U.S.
death date	May 3, 2010
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
occupation	Entrepreneur, businessman

History

LJN Toys

THQ

Jakks Pacific

Philanthropy

Death and legacy

External links

References