Jay Foreman is an American businessman. He is President and CEO of Basic Fun! and its related companies, Good Stuff, K'NEX, Uncle Milton, The Bridge Direct and Tech 4 Kids. Basic Fun! began as The Bridge Direct and was established by Mr. Foreman and Oaktree Capital Management as a vehicle to create a dynamic and growing children's entertainment products company both organically and through acquisition. Basic Fun! and its related companies design, develop and market toys for children directly to major mass and specialty retailers such as Wal-Mart, Amazon.com and Target, as well as Barnes and Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohl's stores, among hundreds of others. In addition, via the company's Good Stuff division, it develops and sells stuffed toys and novelties to major mass entertainment venues, such as major theme parks like Six Flags, Knott's Berry Farm and all the Cedar Fair parks, as well as family entertainment centers such as Chuck E Cheese's and Dave and Busters. The company also sells all its product globally, both to direct end users and via a network of distributors. The company manufactures and sells both internally developed product lines as well as product lines from well-known entertainment companies such as Disney, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros, as well as sports entertainment brands such as NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. In addition, the company licenses IP from top global toy companies, such as Mattel and Hasbro. He resides in Boca Raton, Florida.
Video Jay Foreman (businessman)
Career
Foreman began his career in toys in the amusement industry at the age of 18 while working in amusement concessions on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey. He got his first "real job" in the toy business five years later with the largest "domestic" manufacturer of plush toys at the time, Fable Toys, based in Brooklyn, New York. From 1990 to 1996, Foreman was the general manager and a founding partner of Play-By-Play Toys and Novelties, which was a major player in the plush toy business and the largest distributor of toys and novelties to the amusement and theme park industries. The company went public in 1995 on the NASDAQ exchange.
Foreman served as Senior Vice President of Galoob Toys, where he acquired the rights for and developed the toy line based on the world-famous Spice Girls, in association with Simon Fuller, President of 19 Entertainment and creator of American Idol. The Spice Girls toy line was the most successful celebrity doll line of all time at that point.
He is the founder and past-president of Play Along, the Florida-based toy company that was sold in 2004 and is now a wholly owned division of Jakks Pacific (NASDAQ:JAKK). He co-founded Play Along in 1999 where he managed all aspects of marketing, product development and sourcing for the company. Product lines he conceived and/or developed include Cabbage Patch Kids, Doodle Bear, Care Bears, Puppy In My Pocket, Lord of the Rings action figures, the Britney Spears fashion dolls and accessories, and a doll line based on Disney's Hannah Montana TV show. The Hannah Montana toy line is the biggest celebrity-themed toy line in the history of the toy industry. The company's sales peaked at $240mm annually in 2007 and was recognized with several toy and licensing industry achievement awards. Mr. Foreman and his partners ran the company successfully for Jakks Pacific until January 2008.
In 2009 he founded The Bridge Direct acting as a licensee and agent for Cepia maker of the world famous Zhu Zhu Pets toys. In 2010 the company launched its first toy line licensing the rights for pop start Justin Bieber which quickly took the market by storm extending Mr. Foreman's record of successfully launched celebrity dolls including The Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Hanna Montana. In 2013 Mr. Foreman purchased the Good Stuff company and its Basic Fun Division. Good Stuff is one of the leading suppliers of toys to the leisure entertainment industry. Basic Fun was a leading supplier of novelty toys specializing in collectable key chains. It soon became a leader in retro toys bring back and marketing classic toys from Fisher Price, the famous electronic game Simon, Lite Brite, Koosh Balls and many more. In 2017 the company acquired Uncle Milton Industries which manufactures STEM related toys including the world famous Uncle Milton's Ant Farm . Later that year it merged Toronto Canada based Tech 4 Kids into the company. Most recently in early 2018 the company acquired well known and loved construction toy line K'NEX which features American made parts manufactured in Hatfield PA as well as making American classic Lincoln Logs also made in America and Tinker Toys.
The company is now expanding its Boca Raton headquarters where it manages the company's activities. The company also has a major office and showroom in Hong Kong.
Maps Jay Foreman (businessman)
Other
Foreman has worked with many major entertainment content providers including Warner Bros., Disney, Sony, Fox and Paramount. In addition, he's worked with many well-known corporate brand owners such as Coca-Cola and Harley-Davidson, creating the famous Coca-Cola plush polar bear collections and the popular "Harley Hog" plush toy lines. Foreman also created the multimillion-dollar selling Play-Faces pillow, and he has produced over forty TV commercials that promoted Play Along's toy lines selling over $1.5 B worth of toys to such retailers as Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.
In addition to his role at Basic Fun!, Foreman has served as board member of the License Merchandise Marketing Association (LIMA) and has served on the board of the Toy Industry Association, as well as its charity foundation the TIF. He is also on the board of the Florence Fuller Child Development Centers and is on the Board of Trustees at the Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, FL and Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Pine Crest school is one of the largest and most respected independent schools in the United States.
References
External links
- Play Along Toys
Source of article : Wikipedia
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