Mattel Inc

Jill E. Barad, president and chief operating officer at El Segundo-based Mattel Inc., was the highest-paid among California's 100 biggest public companies, pulling down nearly $5.5 million in 1993. Barad who gained distinction for reviving the Barbie doll, Mattel's top-selling product--is one of just two women in the Times' 1993 salary ranking. The other is Marion O. Sandler, co-chief executive of Golden West Financial, who earned $1.8 million.

Toy maker Mattel Inc. plans to lay off about 400 of its 500 workers in the Portland, Ore., area. The El Segundo-based firm said all 115 workers at its Portland distribution center will lose their jobs, as will 285 workers at the company's Beaverton, Ore., factory, where View-Master reels and viewers have been made since 1950. Mattel spokesman Sean Fitzgerald said about 100 remaining employees will be shifted to a new manufacturing and marketing center in the Beaverton area.