Every time investors turn around, things get worse at Mattel (NYSE: MAT). The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission requires companies to "report all claims of potentially hazardous product defects within 24 hours." Mattel apparently has not been doing that. The company took several months to review data on the nearly 18 million play sets that it recalled last month.

The CPSC says that it has had about enough of Mattel's behavior. The commissions chairperson calls Mattel's approach "fallacious and wrongheaded."

Although the commission is fairly small and cannot handle all of the cases that it should, it is astonishing that Mattel would makes its position with consumers worse by adopting a stance that might be viewed as irresponsible.

Continue reading Mattel (MAT) gets investigated

Mattel (MAT) gets investigated originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Main market news: Before the bell: Watching the Fed, investors prop up Goldman Sachs fund

Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) -- The retailer lowered its second quarter earnings forecast and said same stores sales declined. It also announced a new share buyback.

Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) -- A federal judge ruled Friday that Novell, not SCO Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOX) was the rightful owner of the UNIX operating system. SCO, which has also sued International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), had claimed it owned Unix and was entitled to royalties from the popular free Linux operating system.

Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) -- The head of a Chinese toymaker at the center of huge recall involving Mattel's Fisher-Price unit committed suicide, according to state-run media.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) -- Citigroup lost $700 million in credit business in recent weeks, according to the Financial Times.

Before the bell 8-10-07: Sears Holdings (SHLD), Novel (NOVL), Citigroup (C) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.