Pocket.watch Taps Manuel Torres Port To Oversee Licensing Biz, Worth Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars

Pocket.watch, the kids’ content goliath that works with Ryan Kaji, the Onyx Family, and Kids Diana Show, has tapped Manuel Torres Port to serve as its head of consumer products licensing.

Torres will oversee all categories of consumer products licensing and global expansion for Pocket.watch’s brands, growing existing product programs and launching new ones. He will report to COO and CFO Xavier Kochhar, effective immediately.

Torres Port brings three decades of experience in the licensing world, with previous stints at Mattel, Nickelodeon, and NBCUniversal. Deals forged throughout his career have netted $1 billion in U.S. royalties, Pocket.watch says. And Pocket.watch’s licensing business is similarly massive; in 2020, CEO Chris Williams said Kaji’s consumer products business alone was set to clock half a billion dollars in retail sales.

“I have admired for some time the power of pocket.watch and its disruptive force in the entertainment industry,” Torres Port said in a statement, “and I am grateful to Xavier and Chris for inviting me in to contribute to the company’s very bright future.”

At NBCUniversal, Torres Port oversaw franchises including Minions, Jurassic World, and Trolls. Prior to that, he served in various roles at Nickelodeon, spearheading the relaunch of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

Torres Port worked at Mattel Mexico in the early 90s, before transitioning to various roles in the U.S. over the course of seven and a half years. He most recently served as chief brand officer of kids’ content company Zag Entertainment, overseeing its Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir brand.