A buyout rumor did more for Mattel than a decade of brand reinvention

Authentic Brands Group has privately floated a takeover offer that could value Mattel at six billion dollars or more, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, sending shares up nearly nineteen percent in a single session and erasing a rough stretch that included Wednesday's leadership shakeup.

The timing is striking: the takeover chatter arrived the day after Mattel named a new CEO, which means the market is now pricing in an outside buyer over whoever sits in the corner office.

The FAA's safety review matters more than Boeing's resolved strike

Boeing's engineers and technical workers approved a new contract Thursday, ending the strike threat that could have further delayed already-struggling jet deliveries, with the news arriving alongside a fresh twenty-billion-dollar Navy fighter contract.

But the safety review the FAA convenes Friday over a software flaw in the 737 MAX that could block pilots from accessing automated landing guidance is the kind of problem that outlasts any labor deal, and it is the thing worth watching.

Disney's restructuring pain signals the TV business has no easy fix

Disney confirmed plans Thursday for a sweeping television restructuring under a new division leader that will result in hundreds of layoffs and a consolidation of units, with the stock falling more than three percent as the market absorbed yet another cost-cutting announcement from a company still searching for stable ground.

The fact that former CEO Bob Chapek chose this moment to resurface publicly, claiming he was ousted through a boardroom plot, only underscores that Disney's leadership story remains unsettled even as the current team tries to move forward.