In 1997, Judd Zebersky made a decision that surprised almost everyone who knew him. A licensed attorney with his own law firm, he walked away from the practice of law and boarded a plane for China. He had no manufacturing experience, no industry contacts, and no guarantee that anything would pan out. What he had was a conviction that he wanted to make toys.
“I looked at my wife, and I said, ‘I want to make toys,'” Zebersky recalled. “She said, ‘Follow your dreams,’ and that’s what I did.”
Building the Business
That leap of faith eventually produced Jazwares, a company that now employs roughly 1,400 people and ships products to more than 100 countries. Judd Zebersky spent months in Chinese factories learning injection molding, blow molding, rotocasting, hair rooting, and design engineering before he ever shipped a product. The hands-on factory education shaped how the company hired and operated for decades. Working through remote facilities on dirt roads in southern China, Zebersky developed an operational fluency that gave Jazwares a durable advantage in product development and quality control.
Jazwares grew steadily through licensed toy lines tied to major entertainment franchises, including Minecraft, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Fortnite. Acquisitions accelerated that growth. Wicked Cool Toys joined the portfolio in 2019, and Kellytoy came aboard in 2020, bringing two of the most sought-after toy lines in the market: Pokémon and Squishmallows.
Squishmallows and a Viral Moment
Squishmallows became the defining product of Zebersky’s tenure. The ultrasoft plush toys, each with a name, a birthday, and a personal backstory, caught fire on TikTok and attracted celebrity fans from Lady Gaga to Kim Kardashian. More than 100 million units sold in a single year, with individual toys priced between $5 and $30.
Judd Zebersky stepped down as CEO on March 20, 2026, with David Neustein, the company’s Chief Operating Officer for 14 years, taking the helm on March 23. Alleghany Capital Corporation had invested in Jazwares in 2014, with Berkshire Hathaway inheriting the stake through its 2022 Alleghany acquisition. Zebersky leaves behind a toy industry legacy built one factory floor at a time. Refer to this article for more information.
More about Judd Zebersky on https://www.jazwares.com/about-us/leadership