Mattel Buys NetEase’s Stake in Gaming Venture for $159 Million

Mattel Inc. is buying its partner NetEase Inc.’s stake in a joint venture to accelerate growth of its mobile-gaming business.

The toy giant is paying $159 million for NetEase’s 50% interest in a transaction expected to close in the next few weeks, Mattel said in a statement Tuesday. Mattel163, as the joint venture is called, was announced in 2018 and employs several hundred people. It has released four games based on Mattel’s intellectual property, including the Uno and Skip-Bo card games. They’ve been downloaded 550 million times, and 20 million users play the games monthly.