Immaturity Makes Toymaker A Winner

USA Today:

You never know when a life-changing moment will seize hold. For Roger Shiffman, it arrived in the mid-1970s, shortly after he graduated from college. Long a toy lover and already a veteran (since age 15) of the retail industry, Shiffman had begun working at a toy wholesaler just as electronic games were being embraced by the masses.

It struck him, Shiffman says, that two things he loved — toys and electronics — were about to forge an indelible match. “You’re only young once,” he says. “But you can be immature forever.”

In time, his twin passions led Shiffman to build, in separate phases of his career, two highly successful toy companies. The latest, Zizzle, scored a smashing victory in 2005, shortly after its creation, when it won coveted rights to make toys based on the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and any sequels. One toy Zizzle eventually developed, the Dead Man’s Chest play set, was named one of the top toys of 2006 by the Toy Industry Association.

As a privately held company, Zizzle doesn’t release its revenue figures. But Chris Byrne, an independent analyst, estimates that a movie toy line like Pirates of the Caribbean would generate about $100 million a year. Given licensing fees and other costs, he says, the profits would probably amount to $50 million annually.

Shiffman tends to avoid self-promotion. His colleagues are less reticent. “Roger is able to see a product or idea that others can’t see and then help develop it,” says Patty Jackson, executive vice president of product development. “He’s a visionary.”

Photo by John Zich.

« Previous Post

Next Post »