China’s emotional economy is on the rise

A giant inflatable Labubu toy floats on the water at Victoria Harbour on October 25, 2025 in Hong Kong, China. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images 28-year-old Rebecca Zhou, born in China’s Sichuan province, owns an assortment of Moomin merchandise — bags, mugs, and figurines featuring the white hippo-looking cartoon character from Finland…

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Toy industry pressures make digital the star

The gap is widening between rival toy makers Hasbro and Mattel — thanks in part to a 30-year-old trading card game. The toy giants have flip-flopped dominance in the space for decades, jockeying for the most coveted master licenses to put new fan favorites — Disney princesses and “Star Wars” characters among them — on…

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Shopping platform goes down during Cyber Monday

Thomas Trutschel | Getty Images Shopify was hit with an outage on Cyber Monday, leaving some businesses unable to manage transactions during one of the biggest shopping days of the year. In an update to its status page, the Canadian e-commerce company said select merchants were experiencing issues logging into Shopify, while others were unable…

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Mattel (MAT) earnings Q3 2025

The Mattel, Inc. logo is displayed outside the headquarters of the toy company known for products including Barbie and Hot Wheels in El Segundo, California on June 8, 2023. Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images Barbie-maker Mattel posted third-quarter results after the market close on Tuesday that missed analysts’ expectations as ongoing global…

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