At its peak in 1998, O’Leary sold TLC to Mattel for an astounding $3.5 billion — 4.5 times The Learning Company’s annual revenue.

This is a weird footnote because 4.5x price to sales is not that crazy above the market average of ~1.5 at the time of this acquisition. It would make sense for a growth industry in the midst of the Dot Com boom in 98. It's certainly not crazy today, where companies trade at many times that (Pinterest trades at a 18x multiplier).

Great article by the way. I loved Rocky's Boots.