Twenty years after $100 million Lionel Corp. takeover bid, Robert and Isaac Toussie his son, see investor lessons for today’s recession.
Successful New York entrepreneurs, real estate developers and business moguls, Robert and Isaac Toussie, sees lessons from the Toussie’s 1989 takeover bid of the Lionel Corporation that can help potential investors, even amid the current economic downturn.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. / More than 20 years ago, Robert Toussie saw an opportunity where other investment “experts” saw a product decreasing in popularity and a company with a shrinking customer base. The Lionel Corporation had been the industry leader in manufacturing toy trains for nearly a century, but with the advent of new toy technology and a decline in the number of people relying on trains as a mode of long-distance transportation, the company had begun seeing a decline in sales by the late 1980s.
That‟s where the Toussies stepped in.
The successful New York entrepreneurs had already built a dynasty through real estate projects, land development and corporate investing, and he saw something in the Lionel Corporation that they felt made the floundering company a solid investment and they says its precisely this sort of counterintuitive, calculated risk taking is what investors should incorporate into their own portfolios during the current recession.
No toying around: A $100 million for Lionel
When the Toussie L.P. attempted to purchase the Lionel Corporation for $100 million in 1989, the company was near the bottom of a decade-long decline in sales. Toy technological advancements like video games and a new generation of children had relegated the nearly century-old company to second-class citizenship in the toy market. What once had been a fixture of father-son bonding and an especially popular gift during the holiday season was suddenly outdated and struggling financially. Founded by Joshua Lionel Cowen in 1900 as a testament to America‟s fascination and imagination with the toy industry, the Lionel Corporation needed a spark and the Toussies stepped forward to provide just that.
Like most children of his generation, Bob Toussie grew up playing with Lionel toy trains and could appreciate from a very young age just how strong the company‟s presence was in the toy market. But like the rest of his era, Toussie grew up and eventually outgrew the toy trains and the Lionel Corporation itself.
Robert and Isaac Toussie share what to look for in potential investments
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Robert Toussie engaged in a variety of investments, with a large portion of his considerable interests devoted to corporate investment. In addition to investing in toy companies like Lionel, the Toussies were also involved with department stores, and Bible and food manufacturers.
Any investor knows the importance of a diverse portfolio, but the Toussies say they also knew what exactly to look for in their potential investments that helped them become among New York‟s most successful entrepreneurs.
The Toussies have , in fact, made multiple $100+ million bids for corporate acquisitions, each time looking for certain characteristics in the targeted companies. What Robert saw in Lionel was in step with his investment strategies, which were to always look for companies with stable businesses that were suffering, however much, from temporary, yet curable problems. Toussie would then make the financial investment necessary to turn the companies around. These stories and stories about his son, Isaac Toussie a highly skilled asset evaluator, corporate turnaround specialist and land developer, have routinely been story subjects for news outlets like „The New York Times,‟ „The Wall Street Journal‟ and „Forbes‟ magazine.
About Isaac Toussie: Continuing in the charitable path set forth by his father, Isaac Toussie is a New York-based philanthropist who has helped the less fortunate throughout the country. The younger Toussie graduated magna cum laude with a major in finance from the NYU Stern School of Business, and received his Masters in Business Administration from the NYU Business School at the age of 21, one of the youngest MBAs the school has ever produced. When he‟s not continuing his working in the corporate sector as a writer, land developer or business advisor, Toussie is studies ethics, philosophy and law. He also enjoys boxing and karate in his spare time.
About Robert Toussie: In addition to being a successful entrepreneur and investor, Robert Toussie is a national and international philanthropist who has donated millions of dollars to charity throughout his entrepreneurial career. Having amassed his fortune through successful corporate investing and asset buying, Toussie has committed himself to the cause of helping the less fortunate improve their quality of life. Toussie is also fiercely devoted to his family, which includes his four children, six grandchildren, and his wife of more than 40 years. Toussie received his MBA from Columbia University, and has been in business for more than five decades.