LJN Toys After working at Norman J. Lewis, Friedman began considering his own concepts for
toy products. In 1970, he formed
LJN Toys Ltd., which created toy lines and video games based on movies, television shows and celebrities. The company was established with the financial backing of Friedman's employer, Norman J. Lewis, who later sold his interest in the company to a Chinese investor. After Lewis moved on, Friedman remained committed to promoting the company's growth and focused the company's strategy toward
licensing. Basing toys on popular characters wasn't a new concept, but Friedman had an instinct for recognizing blockbusters, could conceive products for diverse audiences, and could negotiate and execute licenses quickly, which brought the practice to a new level. LJN found initial success making merchandise from the film
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Friedman continued to acquire licenses, personally meeting with celebrities such as
Michael Jackson and
Brooke Shields, before making dolls based on their figure. During the summer of 1991, Friedman agreed to have THQ acquired by Trinity Acquisition Corp., a publicly held
shell corporation that had been organized to raise capital for an unspecified future venture, in a stock swap valued at about $33 million with THQ's shareholders owning 51.7% of the new entity. Friedman became the president of the merged company. During THQ's formative years, Friedman acquired licenses for Hollywood productions and focused the development of the company's video games on popular films. The company flourished at first, and Friedman sold his 46 percent stake in the company on its
initial public offering, gaining $13 million. In 1992, THQ's sales greatly increased, jumping more than 70 percent, but the video game industry began to head towards a more technical focus. In an August 26, 2002, interview with the
Los Angeles Business Journal, Jakks Pacific's chief financial officer, Joel Bennett, explained the turn of events. "Then," Bennett said, referring to the early 1990s, "games were more like toys than technology." When the development of game software evolved toward the technological side, "it became beyond Jack's comfort zone," Bennett explained. "He's kind of a low-tech guy." THQ ceased operations in 2013.
Jakks Pacific In 1995, with almost $3 million in personal investment, Friedman co-founded the toy company
Jakks Pacific with Berman. From the start, Friedman wanted to use Jakks Pacific to consolidate the fragmented toy industry. At the time, the industry was dominated by the "Big Two,"
Hasbro and
Mattel, who together controlled one-third of the approximately $15 billion wholesale US toy industry. With plenty of room to grow the company to the ranks of Hasbro and Mattel, Friedman hoped to out-compete the hundreds of small competitors and the handful of medium-sized toy companies by acquiring their rivals and forging licensing agreements with other companies. During the company's first year, Friedman signed a licensing agreement with
Titan Sports, at that time the parent company of the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF) whose popularity exploded during the 1990s, which secured an important source of revenue for the company. The exclusive, ten-year deal gave Jakks Pacific the rights to develop and market a line of action figures based on the WWF's wrestling personalities, such as
Stone Cold Steve Austin and
the Undertaker. For the next several years, Jakks Pacific attained much of its growth from the licensing agreement and the thousands of WWF action figures that were produced, similar to how Hasbro began their growth through sales of
G.I. Joe. Friedman had a fondness for classic toys—
die-cast collectible cars, metal trucks, bulldozers—and a business strategy that revolved around licensing toys and acquiring other companies. One company Jakks bought was Toymax, which made Funnoodle pool products such as
pool noodles. It also developed a line of toys with
Nickelodeon and manufactures products for
Disney,
Hello Kitty,
Cabbage Patch Kids and many other well-known brands. In April 2010, Friedman retired as CEO and accepted the position of Chairman Emeritus to spend more time with his family. Co-founder and friend Stephen Berman succeeded him as CEO. == Philanthropy ==