CEO'S SHOCKING SUICIDE SOLOMON WAS HOPEFUL OF SAVING APPLAUSE TOY COMPANY FROM FINANCIAL RUIN.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - Bob Solomon's toy company was his life, and hours before he killed himself Friday night, he spoke hopefully about saving it from financial ruin.

Applause LLC was a rags to riches to rags story, and Solomon saw the whole tale unfold. It rose to the top of the plush-toy industry with stuffed Mickey Mouses, Winnie the Poohs and Curious Georges and fell when the fad began to fade. When he came back to Applause three years ago, it was in the role of its rescuer - chairman, CEO and owner - and he gambled on a toy called Dream Pets to revive the company's fortunes.

He lost the bet. Now, the company that once employed 1,100 workers in its heyday and brought in hundreds of millions in annual revenue finds itself in a desperate situation. Last week, Applause faced eviction from its Warner Center headquarters by the end of the month and was the target of numerous lawsuits demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid royalties and fees. Its payroll had dropped to around 40 workers with more impending layoffs.

In a series of interviews last week about Applause's troubles, Solomon engaged the problems candidly and even quipped Friday afternoon that the headline on its story might be ``Trouble in Toyland.''

But he talked of good news that was coming ``soon,'' a possible deal that would save the business.

``We're in a wicked industry, and I'm trying to keep a company alive,'' he said in one interview. ``Companies have layoffs, companies have downsizing, some companies don't make it. I'm still hanging on. I'm a fighter.''

He spoke with excitement about the changes, saying he was in the final stages of the deal but that he couldn't reveal what would happen. Though markedly downcast from his usual ebullient self, when he spoke of the future of a brand he loved he sounded confident and upbeat.

``I am the company, so an attack on Applause, I'll feel it personally,'' he said at one point.

Los Angeles Police Department investigators said Solomon, 50, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Though full details were not available, police said he shot himself at his home in a Woodland Hills gated community and was taken to Northridge Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. Friday.

A tireless, flamboyant salesman who started with the company while still in college, Solomon had saved it once, buying it out of bankruptcy in 2001 and saving 450 jobs. The last few years had been challenging, however, leaving around a few dozen workers and a crippled business.

``I feel bad that we're changing and downsizing, but frankly, I'm doing now what I would have done three years ago,'' he said last week. ``I tried to be the white knight, but the culture and the model that Applause started doing business with years ago has changed, and we have to adjust to it.''

Business associates said Solomon was showing the signs of stress.

``I, like many other people who knew him well, was very concerned about his mental state in the wake of all of Applause's problems,'' Doug Fineberg, the company's former chief operating officer, said on Sunday. ``No one expected him to take his life. He was so mercurial, the highs were so high, but the lows could be so low. ...

``My brother-in-law, who also worked there, told me `I hope that he can find the peace in heaven that he couldn't find in life.' That sums it up best.''

Former employees and others in the industry described Solomon as a complicated character, always upbeat and passionate about his work. They saw him as a brilliant marketer and champion for his company and his products. At the same time, he could be a harsh boss and had a high turnover of executives in the last three years, some quitting over disagreement over the company's direction.

Craig Roberts, who ran the information systems and distribution operations, a 14-year employee who won manager of the year in 2003, found himself out of a job in March. He worried that Solomon's tumultuous personal life had leaked over into corporate affairs, leading to increasingly tense office situations.

``Things were good when he first bought the company back,'' Roberts said Sunday. ``Something happened this year, where things really started getting bad for him personally. When things got weird between us, as far as I could tell, there was no reason for it. I never even exchanged harsh words with him, I just walked in one day, and it was time for me to go.''

Solomon's relationship with his company went beyond that of most entrepreneurs. He was fond of remarking that he had four children: two daughters, a son and Applause. Especially after he rescued it from bankruptcy, he relentlessly tried to revive the brand name, slashing payroll and adding new licenses for familiar characters like Curious George and Peanuts. Most recently, he bet heavily on Dream Pets, retro-styled miniature characters his Dakin subsidiary popularized in the 1960s.

In his relentless pursuit of the Dream Pets, however, Solomon miscalculated.

Applause lost major licenses with Disney, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. Consumer Products. He tried to concentrate on specialty toy stores at a time that KB Toys, Toys `R' Us, FAO Schwarz and Zany Brainy were all reorganizing or disappearing. Plush sales industrywide were contracting, and without his big-name licenses, he lost leverage with retailers to promote the Dream Pets.

Though well-received by the trade press, the toys hadn't caught on with consumers, with Solomon himself acknowledging their sales had disappointed him. Still, he planned to continue to focus on them and his other proprietary brands, along with a few remaining licenses.

``He bet the farm on Dream Pets,'' said Mike Haller, a Japanese business consultant based in Agoura Hills who worked with Applause last year during the Dream Pets introduction, in an interview prior to Solomon's death. ``It's too bad, because Applause had a really good reputation as a trademark and a logo. It's too bad to see them tarnished like this.''

Though Applause had become a much smaller company in recent years, shrinking to 250 workers a year-and-a-half after Solomon bought it and down to a few dozen currently, he remained well-respected in the local business community. Bruce Ackerman, chief executive officer of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, said he'd recently asked Solomon to join the group's board of directors. Though the toymaker declined the offer, he asked to be kept in mind for future posts and donated several hundred Dream Pets for an upcoming Alliance event. The two had planned to have dinner in coming weeks.

``I'm personally heartbroken, because he was such a unique guy,'' Ackerman said Sunday. ``This is just devastating.''

Solomon, who married three times, had two teenage daughters and a 9-year-old son. Funeral arrangements were still pending on Sunday afternoon.

Beyond his family, his friends say plush toys were his true love.

`'He touched a lot of lives,'' said Al Linden, a former director of corporate communications. ``Not just his co-workers and his employees, but through his plush toys. Millions of people have bought his products. He liked to say everyone likes to get Applause - that's what he would have wanted to be known for.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

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(1 -- color) SOLOMON

(2) Flowers were left in the door handle at Applause in Woodland Hills on Sunday after CEO Bob Solomon's death.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News