Every Baby Co. gets Mottola money
By Staff -- Playthings, 12/1/2008 11:40:00 AM
NEW YORK—Music mogul Tommy Mottola’s The Mottola Company has made an equity investment in Every Baby Company, creator of the Eebee’s Adventures infant/preschool entertainment brand.
The agreement includes both the financial investment in Every Baby Co. (EBC), details of which were not released, along with a commitment of business development, marketing, and creative resources designed to grow EBC and the Eebee's Adventures brand. EBC co-founders Stephen Gass and Don Burton will continue to manage and run the company’s day to day operations while The Mottola Company will play an active role in the brand's expansion into new categories and channels of distribution.
Additionally, The Mottola Company will appoint new members to join EBC’s board.
Designed to help parents and babies transform everyday play into real-world interactive learning experiences, the 3-year-old Eebee’s Addventures brand has expanded from a series of DVDs into books and toys.
"We are thrilled that The Mottola Company will be joining us at this very exciting moment in Eebee's 'development,’" says Stephen Gass, president of Every Baby Company. "In three short years, we have grown from just a line of DVDs to nearly 6 million episodes viewed on cable on demand, a line of books, toys, plush and TV programming, and from one store at FAO Schwarz to 1,000 Barnes & Noble and FAO at Macy’s stores! We're confident that co-parenting this business with Tommy Mottola will truly bring us to the next level of growth and success.”
For consumers the deal will be most immediately visible through the inclusion of Latino superstar Thalia in the Spanish language version of Las Aventuras de Eebee” The Spanish-language version with Thalia in the role of Eebee's "play partner" will be available on DVD, cable and Video On Demand.























