8/30/2023 0 Comments Sqish mellos![]() Judd Zebersky said Jazwares is looking to expand into business "ancillary" to toys, such as costumes.Ĭuriosity, he said, helps drive where Jazwares might go next in a fast-changing world. Its products come mainly from China, as well as Vietnam and eventually Cambodia and Indonesia-the United States costs too much. Jazwares counts Hasbro, Lego and Mattel among its main rivals. The Zeberskys said they had met Buffett once, at a 2017 charity dinner in Florida to encourage investments in Israeli bonds. ![]() "He lets us run our business, he lets us operate in the way we see best." "Greg is exactly what we have all learned about the Berkshire model," Laura Zebersky said. The Zeberskys now report to Greg Abel, a Berkshire vice chairman who oversees non-insurance businesses and is Buffett's designated successor as CEO. "Joe said that our lives would be really, really good, we're working with the best and most respected company in the world," Judd Zebersky said. Led by Joseph Brandon, who previously ran Berkshire's General Re reinsurer, Alleghany now has Buffett's deep balance sheet as support. When Alleghany wanted to buy a minority stake, we were all for it." "We weren't looking to sell, but we knew we could not grow properly without acquisitions. "Another company was courting us," Laura Zebersky said. Terms of both transactions were not disclosed. In 2014, seeking help in expanding, the Zeberskys sold a stake in Jazwares to Alleghany, which took a majority stake two years later. "It struck a nerve, and when you strike a nerve in the toy industry, great things can happen." "This was a brand that needed a lot of love," Judd Zebersky said. There are now more than 2,000 Squishmallows, each with its own name, birthdate-or "Squish date"-and biography. The Zeberskys thought the squishy toys could be a hit but had not been marketed well to a mass audience. Launched in 2017, Squishmallows became part of Jazwares when it bought another toymaker, Kellytoy. ![]() Before long they were fetching more than $500 at auction on eBay (EBAY.O). Other businesses in Berkshire's stable also make toys, including Oriental Trading's rubber ducks resembling Buffett and his longtime business partner Charlie Munger.īut it was Buffett and Munger Squishmallows that were arguably the hot item during a shopping event at the Berkshire weekend, with shareholders scooping up 10,000. "And, Judd and Laura are the ideal Berkshire managers." STRIKING A NERVE "Jazwares is a gem," Buffett said in an emailed statement. It has not since discussed Jazwares' business performance. About 40% came from Squishmallows, as the number sold passed 100 million, and the rest from in-house and licensed brands including Fortnite, Pokemon and Star Wars.īerkshire bought Jazwares' parent, insurance holding company Alleghany Corp, for $11.5 billion last October. Jazwares sales topped $1 billion in 2021. ![]() Laura Zebersky, a litigator, sold her practice in 2005 and joined him, becoming Jazwares' president. "I looked at my wife, and I said, 'I want to make toys.' She said, 'Follow your dreams,' and that's what I did." "I was into comic books and toys, and I'm also an artist-a not very good one," he said. "I have really loved pop culture since I was a kid," Zebersky said in an interview at this month's annual shareholder weekend for Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) in Omaha, Nebraska. Four years later, he started Jazwares, where he is now chief executive. They married in 1993 and embarked on law careers, but Judd Zebersky soon realized that wasn't his destiny. May 13 (Reuters) - Squishmallows joined Warren Buffett's business empire two years after Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and others helped make the plush stuffed toys a viral sensation on TikTok.įor Judd and Laura Zebersky, whose company Jazwares makes the toys, the success of Squishmallows is hardly what they imagined when they met 33 years ago at the University of Miami law school.
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