“China has built an unbeatable infrastructure for effective manufacturing. LeapFrog is not looking beyond China for production at the moment despite rising costs in the key manufacturing hub, Barbour said on Monday. The toymaker, known mostly for its interactive reading systems, educational games, books, and learning toys in five languages, expects the 2011 holiday selling season to be just slightly better than last year when demand tapered off after a strong start. I think the interesting bit will be as we continue to grow the business and hopefully achieve some success, what happens,” Barbour said.īarbour, who is 52 and came out of retirement to take the helm of Leapfrog, said he was committed to the job for at least another five years. “The company has lost money for the last five years other than 2010, so we’re certainly unproven.
We’re very unique, we’re a very big brand in the marketplace, the loyalty our consumers have for our brand is very valuable,” John Barbour, who has served as LeapFrog’s CEO since March, said at the Reuters Global Consumer and Retail Summit. “Could LeapFrog be a major asset for another company? I think that’s highly likely. The news boosted shares of the toymaker by as much as 6.2 percent on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. John Barbour, CEO of LeapFrog Enterprises, speaks at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York June 27, 2011.
