Ritvik Holdings In 1967, Victor Bertrand and his wife Rita founded the company as Ritvik Holdings (RH). Ritvik is a
portmanteau word based on a combination of
Rita and
Victor. RH began by distributing toys made outside Canada and also facilitated contracts between foreign brands and Canadian manufacturers. Ritvik later became a vertically integrated company as it expanded by adding plastic injection molding operations, design operations, tooling manufacturers, and marketing services. The company had a leading share of the Canadian plastic injection molded toy market by the early 1980s. Lego,
K'Nex and Ritvik added features to their lines in 2000. Ritvik made transformable building sets that changed into vehicles, and a remote control electronic kit named the Mega Bloks RO Action Builder. Ritvik also added TV advertising that year with a $2 million campaign; the company spent $30 million on advertising, marketing, and research and development in 2002. Soon, Magnetix was a source of lawsuits resulting from choking incidents, causing its share value to drop quickly. Magnetix was then recalled.
Mega Brands On June 15, 2006, following the acquisition of several brand names not associated with construction brick toys, the company again changed its name, this time from Mega Bloks Inc. to Mega Brands Inc. After 23 consecutive years of growing sales and profit, Mega lost $458 million in 2008. Heading towards
bankruptcy, the company refinanced. Shares were consolidated 1-for-20, with
Fairfax Financial becoming a major partner in the recapitalization. The former owners of Rose Art, Jeffrey and Lawrence Rosen, offered to purchase it back in April 2008. They then sued company management for insider trading in September 2008, alleging shares were sold prior to the Magnetix recall. Rose Art's base operation was shut down in New Jersey, and in 2010 the company moved its stationery and activities division, with some key employees, to Irvine, California, under new executive Thomas Prichard, a former executive at
Crayola,
Pixar, and
Hasbro. The subsidiary was not sold, and was reintegrated into Mega operations by 2012. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel as of April 20, 2014. Prior to the purchase, Mega and Mattel were partners in adding Mattel brands to Mega "Worlds" plus a line for Mattel's
American Girl that competes with Lego's Friends line. a new sub-brand of construction sets designed for children four and up as well as adult collectors. Construx's first license property line was
Pokémon, launched in mid-2017. ==Product types==