Mattel Inc. agreed to buy Hit Entertainment for $680 million, a deal that gives the toy maker ownership of well-known preschool brands Thomas & Friends and Barney. Chairman and Chief Executive ...

NEW YORK – Toy giant Mattel said Monday it has agreed to acquire U.K. kids entertainment producer and right owner HIT Entertainment, known for Thomas the Tank Engine, among others, for $680 ...

Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire HIT Entertainment for $680 ... Fisher-Price already produces HIT’s toys under license so the two ...

Toys R Us Studios recently dropped the first episodes of Geoffrey’s World Tour, short films about Geoffrey visiting 10 cities, on YouTube, and it already has its first deal with an entertainment ...

A new direct-to-DVD movie will help ramp up the 67-year-old preschool kids franchise, accompanied by premieres, promotions and new toys Mattel’s HIT Entertainment Firing Up Thomas the Tank Engine ...

U.S. toy manufacturer Mattel has bought HIT Entertainment, the debt-laden UK children’s toy licensing company behind Thomas the Tank Engine, for $680 million in cash.That’s around $20 million ...

MALIBU, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2006--JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (Nasdaq:JAKK) announced today that it has signed a multi-year, master toy licensing agreement with HIT Entertainment, a leading ...

Mattel Inc. has agreed to buy HIT Entertainment, the company behind Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder, in a deal valued at $680 million.

And for the toy industry itself. “There’s a big trickle down when the $1 billion Barbie brand does well,” Jay Foreman, chief executive of Basic Fun said, in an article published in the New ...

Mattel currently markets many Thomas & Friends® toy products under a license from HIT Entertainment which extends through 2014.  Mattel’s global sales of Thomas & Friends® die-cast and ...