Mattel Gambles on Pricey Elmo

Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit Mattel Gambles on Pricey Elmo for Holidays For nearly two years, designers at Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price toiled to hide a maze of copper wires and microchips under the plush red fur of the company's newest Elmo toy. The resulting "Elmo Live" is its most advanced ever, able to cross its legs, flap its arms and fluidly mimic the famous television Muppet. Fisher-Price Elmo Live will carry a $60 price tag. All that wizardry, however, comes at a steep price. When Elmo Live arrives in stores on Tuesday, it will cost $60 -- about a third more than last year's model, and above the $50 tag that once... [read full story]