Mattel, Tradeweb and TeamViewer: Top 5 Stories of the Week

Mattel Appoints New CFO Amid Pressures to Sell

Mattel has announced that Peter Griffith is the firm’s new Chief Financial Officer.

Peter succeeds Paul Ruh, who will serve in an advisory role through the end of the year to support the leadership transition. Peter will report to Roger Lynch, Chairman and CEO of Mattel, and will also join the company’s board of directors.

Discussing Peter’s appointment, Roger says: “Peter is a highly accomplished and respected financial leader with a proven track record of enabling growth, driving financial discipline and allocating capital strategically.”

He adds that Peter’s experience across global financial management, private equity and investment banking will be “invaluable” as Mattel seeks to sharpen its business execution and improve its performance. 

Roger says: “We welcome him to our management team and board and look forward to his impact as we focus on delivering for our shareholders, employees, fans and partners.”

Tradeweb to Acquire Trading Platform Trumid for US$1.97bn

Tradeweb Markets Inc. has agreed to acquire Trumid Holdings, LLC – a financial technology company and electronic credit trading marketplace – for US$1.97bn.

The deal is subject to customary adjustments and comprises US$1.75bn for the business and approximately US$220m for tax assets being acquired.

Both Tradeweb and Trumid share a commitment to technology and innovation. Both platforms have complementary trading protocols developed through close collaboration with the dealer community. 

The combined suite of credit trading products from the two companies will further differentiate Tradeweb’s multi-asset class platform, in part by expanding into earlier stages of the bond lifecycle.

How AI Procurement Strategy Unlocks Working Capital

In an era defined by persistent economic volatility and elevated interest rates, optimising working capital has moved from a routine treasury function to an urgent strategic imperative.

Chief Financial Officers can no longer tolerate capital trapped in unoptimised payment terms or excess inventory held as a buffer.

Yet, many organisations struggle to gain real-time clarity over their financial exposures because legacy architectures fragment data across disparate enterprise resource planning systems, business units and geographic regions.

Modern AI resolves this structural disconnect by establishing a unified data architecture across the source-to-pay workflow.

By consolidating structured and unstructured spend inputs into a single operational interface, AI surfaces hidden patterns and equips leaders to manage liquidity dynamically.

In a recent webinar hosted by BizClik, in association with Amazon Business, Frank Scirica, Senior Partner, Business Operations Practice Leader at IBM, notes, "We have a thing at IBM where we talk about all of our data being 'on the glass', really meaning it is one view of the truth.

"No one is coming in with their own report; decisions are made collectively based on that single source."

Eliminating fragmented reporting allows enterprises to treat capital visibility as an active, continuous business capability.

Watch on demand: Unlocking Working Capital With AI-Driven Procurement

Redwood Data: AI Agents and Governance in Finance

Enterprises are deploying AI agents faster than they can govern, connect or monitor them, exposing businesses to unexpected costs and operational risk, according to new research from Redwood Software.

The orchestration platform provider surveyed 300 senior technology, risk and AI leaders via research firm Leger Opinion. 

The resulting report highlights a clear divide between adoption speed and control. 

While 89% of organisations increased agentic deployment over the past year, existing systems and fragmented ownership continue to impede progress.

Only 22% of respondents fully trust AI agents for an autonomous financial transaction. 

Speaking to Finance Chief exclusively, Billy Newman, CFO of Redwood, says: 

!It doesn't surprise me that financial transactions are where trust in AI agents sits lowest. Finance is one of those industries where being roughly right just isn't good enough. 

“If a marketing model misses, you adjust the campaign. If a payment posts to the wrong entity, you're explaining it to your auditor and your board. That caution is healthy, but it shouldn't become paralysis. 

“The way you earn trust is by starting with the rules-based work, building audit trails into it from day one and proving the output holds up month after month. Trust follows evidence, not enthusiasm.”

Q&A with Mark Banfield, Chief Revenue Officer at TeamViewer

Mark Banfield, Chief Revenue Officer at TeamViewer, explains how UK businesses are losing revenue as a result of digital friction and how companies can address this hurdle and avoid the high costs associated with it. 

As Chief Revenue Officer, Mark is responsible for sales and customer management across TeamViewer’s global segments. He first joined TeamViewer through its acquisition of 1E, having previously served as its CEO.

With more than two decades in the software industry, Mark has extensive experience in building high-performing global teams and delivering best-in-class customer experiences.

Mark showcases this experience across finance, technology and global markets throughout this exclusive interview with Finance Chief.