Mitt Romney rarely got personally involved in individual deals toward the end of his time as chief executive of Bain Capital. But he was closely involved in a failed investment in a company that sold expensive dolls semi-customized to resemble the girl they were bought for.
Mr. Romney was brought the idea by a friend from Brigham Young University and Harvard Business School who was one of the original partners of the doll company, which was called Lifelike Co. and used the brand name My Twinn.
"As far as I can recall, Lifelike was the only investment that Mitt originated from his personal network," said Marc Wolpow, a former Bain executive. He said other Bain partners weren't enthusiastic, but "it was a small investment, so no one really seemed to care that much."
Mr. Romney introduced a brother-in-law of his, Rodney Davies, to Lifelike officials. Lifelike hired him, though Mr. Thiess said Mr. Romney didn't pressure it to. Mr. Davies eventually became a vice president at a $100,000 salary, court documents show.
Lifelike's annual revenue peaked at about $36 million, and it never turned a profit. Former executives say the company, heavily dependent on year-end holiday business, never recovered from a catalog mailing that landed on doorsteps just as the country was reeling from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
A Denver investor, William Fisher, said he thought the concept was flawed from the start, because of the difficulty of mass manufacturing and delivering a custom product in a short time.
