Mattel : And Babytree Form Strategic Partnership In China

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. and BEIJING, Feb. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) and Babytree, China's largest online parenting community, today announced the formation of a strategic partnership to co-develop a first-of-its-kind early childhood learning and development online platform. Integrating world-class parenting content and developmental framework to serve millions of Chinese families' needs, the partnership aims to establish the best early childhood education brand in China.

Mattel and Babytree will bring to market a suite of resources for families, including child development assessment tools and customized parenting content and development curriculum, inspired by Mattel's trusted and globally-recognized early childhood development brand, Fisher-Price®.

'We are thrilled to collaborate with Babytree in such an impactful way,' said Margo Georgiadis, CEO of Mattel. 'Mattel and Fisher-Price have been inspiring childhood development and learning for more than 85 years. By combining our expertise in early childhood development with Babytree's dominant scale and extraordinary ability to engage with Chinese moms, we are uniquely positioned to serve parents and families in China.'

Under the terms of this partnership, Mattel and Babytree will co-create a robust online platform designed to promote and coach parents on maximizing early childhood development with their kids. Drawing on Fisher-Price's unique expertise in childhood development, the platform will host a wealth of content and curriculum designed to enable many parenting styles and address the unique development paths of their child.

'It is Babytree's focus to help the next generation of children in China achieve their personal best. This has been our primary mission throughout the life of Babytree. Until now, early education resources have been scarce and unequal in different tiers of cities,' said Allen Wang, Founder and CEO of BabyTree. 'Partnering with Mattel, a recognized and trusted leader in childhood development, represents an important step toward achieving our goals.'

With nearly 200 million unique monthly visitors, Babytree is China's largest and most trusted online parenting community and kids and family platform. Established ten years ago, Babytree now reaches more than 90% of Chinese parents who have access to the internet, through its digital portals including Babytree.com and a suite of mobile apps. Babytree has witnessed the development journey of more than 100 million children in China, and accumulated tremendous amount of insights enabling Babytree to help ease pain points of existing early childhood education in China and continuously develop innovative solutions.

Mr. Wang continued, 'Our new strategic partnership with Mattel enables us to engage with parents and families in new ways, providing parenting coaching and solutions across numerous metropolitan areas in China, and augmenting our existing robust digital and online communities with high-impact content.'

About Babytree
As China's leading family portal, Babytree is building a VIP service that supports China's young mothers and families. Babytree resources support families across a wide range of topics, including, education, social interaction, child development tracking, and nutrition. Babytree's goal is to provide young mothers with resources that enable them to better enjoy their family life.

Babytree has built a massive online ecosystem encompassing its internet platform, user community, original content, and key opinion leader matrix.

The success of this ecosystem is the result of a focus on understanding and continuously addressing users' core needs. Babytree's offering extends beyond the online platform with innovative products and services including early education, healthcare, finance, tourism and family services. Babytree has built leading brands that include babytree.com, Happy Pregnancy app, Babytree Wetime app, Meitunmama, and Mika.

About Fisher-Price
In 1931, Herman Fisher and Irving Price embarked on a journey to change the toy industry. Their goal: creating playthings that inspire a child's development. More than 85 years later, Fisher-Price remains deeply rooted in the belief that play is the way children learn best. To this day, understanding the importance of play in building a child's skills is the fundamental principle, as the company strives to enrich the lives of families with young children around the globe. United by the passion for a child's safe care and development at each age and stage, the people of Fisher-Price work tirelessly to bring families the best toys and baby products in the world. Some of the company's best-known brands include Laugh & Learn®, Little People®, Power Wheels®, and Imaginext®, and it's also a leading developer of character-based toys for children's programming such as Thomas & Friends™, Blaze and the Monster Machines™ and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Fisher-Price is a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. For more information, visit www.fisher-price.com.

About Mattel
Mattel is a creations company that inspires the wonder of childhood. Our mission is to be the recognized leader in play, learning and development worldwide. Mattel's portfolio of global consumer brands includes American Girl®, Barbie®, Fisher-Price®, Hot Wheels®, Monster High® and Thomas & Friends®, among many others. Mattel also creates a wealth of lines and products made in collaboration with leading entertainment and technology companies. With a global workforce of approximately 31,000 people, Mattel operates in 40 countries and sells products in more than 150 nations. Visit us online at www.mattel.com.

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SOURCE Mattel, Inc.