Discovery Toys

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Not to be confused with Discovery Kids , a brand name owned by Discovery Communications which is unrelated to this company.
Discovery Toys
Industry Multi-level marketing
Founded 1978 ; 46 years ago  ( 1978 )
Founder Lane Nemeth
Headquarters Livermore, California , U.S.
Key people
Jerry Salerno (CEO)
Products Toys
Website www .discoverytoys .net

Discovery Toys is a multi-level marketing company specializing in educational toys. [1] Its products are sold in the U.S. and Canada, and its headquarters are in Livermore, California .

The company was purchased by Avon Products in 1997 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Eos International in 2001. [2] [3] [4]

History [ edit ]

Discovery Toys was founded as a multi-level marketing company in 1978 by Lane Nemeth, [5] a former daycare director, with a $5,000 family loan. [1] [6] Lane, a mother from the San Francisco bay area, started the company when she was unable to find educational toys for her own children. [7]

According to Nemeth, the company had 2,500 sales "consultants" in 1982 and had reached $4.6 million in revenue the previous year. [8] Ms. Nemeth grew the company to a $100 million in annual revenue by 1997 then sold the company to Avon [9] who sold it in 2002 to a private equity group. Discovery Toys was acquired by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Eos International, Inc. in July 2001. [1] [4]

One of the company's top selling toys is Marbleworks . Released in 1982, it consists of colorful, sloped, plastic half-pipes of different designs. The individual pieces interlock, creating a track on which marbles are run. [10] Marbleworks was included in Discovery's product line when Discovery Toys expanded into China in 2003. [11]

References [ edit ]

  1. ^ a b c "Eos International, Inc. Form 10-K (2001)" . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . Retrieved February 23, 2020 .
  2. ^ "Avon to Buy Discovery Toys" . Los Angeles Times . 1997-01-23 . Retrieved 2022-12-08 .
  3. ^ Carlsen, Clifford (1997-02-16). "Discovery Toys opens its door to Avon offer" . www.bizjournals.com . Retrieved 2022-12-08 .
  4. ^ a b "EOS INTERNATIONAL $6.5 MILLION SHORT TERM NOTES EXTENDED" . www.sec.gov . Retrieved 2022-12-08 .
  5. ^ Newman, Andrew Adam (2007-12-22). "For Pet Owners, Too, Toys a Reason for Concern" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-12-08 .
  6. ^ Nancy Rutter (July 1, 1990). "Greer vs. Nemeth" . Inc. Retrieved December 8, 2009 .
  7. ^ Said, Carolyn (2011-12-18). "Bay Area toy makers put modern twist on classics" . SFGATE . Retrieved 2022-12-14 .
  8. ^ Steve Kaufman (November 7, 1982). "Entrepreneur's sales thrive from educational toy parties" . Boca Raton News ( Knight Ridder ) . Retrieved December 8, 2009 .
  9. ^ Coco Masters (April 4, 2005). "Let's Pawty!" . Time . Archived from the original on March 6, 2008 . Retrieved December 8, 2009 .
  10. ^ Matt, McFarland (2013-12-09). "The childhood toys that inspired female engineers and scientists" . The Washington Post . Retrieved 2022-12-14 .
  11. ^ Kathy Chen (2003-09-24). "Discovery Toys Will Launch Its Toys and Games in China" . The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2008-08-19 .

External links [ edit ]


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