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* Barbie’s boss, Mattel Inc.’s Adrienne Fontanella, is adding the popular American Girl brand of dolls to her collection of girls toys, boosting Fontanella’s division to a $2.5-billion piece of the El Segundo-based toy maker.
Fontanella, 41, president of Mattel’s girls toys division, takes over Mattel’s Pleasant Co. subsidiary, the maker of American Girl line. The promotion follows the previously announced retirement of Pleasant Co. founder Pleasant T. Rowland. In addition to the venerable-but-slipping Barbie doll, Mattel’s girls division includes Cabbage Patch Kids and Polly Pocket.
Mattel bought the American Girl line--including the dolls, matching clothes for her young owners, and retail store and restaurant in Chicago--in 1998 for $700 million. Operations at the Middleton, Wis.-based division will be run by Pleasant Co.’s president, Ellen Brothers, Mattel said. Fontanella was hired as the head of worldwide licensing for Barbie in 1996.
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