History
The Baby Einstein Company was founded in 1996 by stay-at-home mom and former teacher Julie Aigner-Clark at her home in suburban Alpharetta, Georgia, as Julie Aigner-Clark Films. Aigner-Clark and her husband, Bill Clark, invested $18,000 of their savings to produce the initial product, a VHS video called Baby Einstein, later sold as Language Nursery, for CNN and The Right Start.
The original video shows a variety of toys and visuals interspersed with music, stories, numbers, and words of many languages. Eventually, the video was marketed across the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Other videos followed, some featuring the Clarks' two daughters, Aspen and Sierra. Also featuring toys by Ambi, Brio, Folkmanis, Dakin, Chimes, Battat, Tomy and Legends and Lore.
Baby Einstein became a multi-million dollar franchise; its revenue grew from $1 million in 1998 to around $10 million in 2000. Aigner-Clark renamed the company to The Baby Einstein Company in January 1998, and sold a 20% stake in the company to Artisan Entertainment and Family Home Entertainment in February 2000 and sold the rest to The Walt Disney Company for an undisclosed amount in November 2001. The franchise is named after and pays significant royalties to the estate of deceased physicist Albert Einstein, putting him in the top 5 of most earning dead celebrities, according to Forbes.
At one point in 2009, the brand was estimated to be worth nearly 400 million dollars based on revenues. Julie was named Entrepreneur of the Year and won various awards for her products, which are the number one selling brand (1 in three households with babies in the US own at least one Baby Einstein product) of videos for very young children. Julie has appeared in many media outlets, including Oprah, GMA, The Today Show and USA Today.
As a subsidiary of Disney, the production budgets were increased and the concept was expanded to include a wide range of themes. A line of educational toys were also developed. In 2005, the franchise inspired a Disney Junior animated television series called Little Einsteins.
The official Baby Einstein website is available in 14 languages, with specific content for 30 different countries.
On January 23, 2007 The Baby Einstein Company was mentioned in the State of the Union address by President George W. Bush. Aigner-Clark, along with other notable U.S. citizens, was invited to sit in the gallery during the speech, and was recognized by Bush during his presentation to the nation.
Although Julie Aigner-Clark owns or operates the company she founded, she will be visibly active as a consultant and spokesperson for the series, and maintain Julie's Corner, a blog no longer hosted at the Baby Einstein website as of 2000. In each video, she can be seen in advertisements promoting the series.
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