of Mattel. O'Leary, who had been hired as president of Mattel's new TLC digital division, sold his stock for $6 million a few months before $2 billion in shareholder value was lost in one day. Despite owning software titles through their Mattel Media division, Mattel lost $82.4 million in the year of 1998 because of several problems with the acquisition, including a loss of a key distribution deal and a high return of unsold products from retailers. The total financial losses to Mattel have been estimated to be as high as $3.6 billion. On May 7, 1999, shareholders of both companies voted to approve the merger. The merger was completed on May 13, 1999. Jill E. Barad, Mattel's chairman and chief executive officer stated "This merger gives Mattel a $1 billion software division with an unparalleled portfolio of branded content and profit margins exceeding that of our traditional business," The company was placed under Mattel's new Mattel Interactive division. Aftermath The sale proved to be fraught. The Telegraph deemed it "one of the worst takeovers in recent history". Toy analyst Margaret Whitfield of Tucker Anthony Cleary Gull called it "a disaster for Mattel". Bloomberg, Businessweek, and CNBC all described it as one of the worst mergers of all time. In the fourth quarter of 1999, Mattel reported a loss of $184 million, reportedly due to poor sales and inventory problems. Michael Perik and Kevin O'Leary, founders and heads of the Learning Co, left the company. Reports from the Center for Financial Research and Analysis later highlighted the "lack of proper due diligence by Mattel during the Learning Co. acquisition." In January 2000, Mattel brought on software executive and former Sega of America president Bernie Stolar to assist with their financial troubles. On February 3, 2000 Chairman and CEO Jill E. Barad resigned from Mattel. The 1999 Annual Report began, "The bad news for 1999 unfortunately has overshadowed the good news. We are all painfully aware of the negative effect the acquisition of The Learning Company and its subsequent performance had on our results for 1999" The acquisition saw the end of the mid-1990s edutainment boom. Former Learning Company educational design department manager, Toby Levenson, said that edutainment had become "a toxic word". Blake Montgomery of EdSurge wrote, "For many years, people making educational products didn't want them to be entertaining because that could be called "edutainment" and that would hurt