The Pop pacifier has no official net worth. The company behind it, Doddle & Co., is privately held and has never published a balance sheet. The last real valuation on the record is $2.5 million, set in January 2018 when Kevin O’Leary bought 10 percent of the business for $250,000 on Shark Tank. The brand went on to pass $1 million in yearly sales and is still shipping pacifiers today.
What The Pop is actually worth
Every hard number attached to this business comes from the Shark Tank episode or the year that followed it. Here they are in one place.
| What it is | The number |
|---|---|
| Valuation Nicki Radzely asked for | $5 million |
| Sales in the four months before taping | about $117,000 |
| Units sold in that period | roughly 25,000 |
| Investment accepted | $250,000 |
| Equity handed over | 10 percent |
| Valuation the deal set | $2.5 million |
| Yearly sales by late 2018 | close to $1 million |
For a private company, net worth really means valuation, and a valuation only gets fixed when somebody buys a piece of the business. That happened once here, on television, at $2.5 million.
Small consumer brands are usually priced off yearly sales, often somewhere between one and three times revenue. A pacifier company turning over about $1 million a year sits comfortably inside the band that produced the $2.5 million figure. Nothing published since has moved it.
The $2.5 million valuation is the only one with a date and a signature behind it. Everything else is arithmetic.
The deal that set the number
Radzely pitched The Pop in season 9, episode 19, which aired on January 21, 2018 and drew 3.76 million viewers. She was on stage alone. Her co-founder, Janna Badger, had just given birth to her third child and could not travel.
She asked for $250,000 in exchange for 5 percent of the company. That works out to a $5 million valuation for a business that was four months into selling anything.
Daymond John led the pushback. He pressed her on unit cost, on sales, and on how she had arrived at $5 million, then landed a pun on the product by telling her the company sucks. Mark Cuban and guest shark Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, both called the pacifier a hit with parents.
Two offers landed. Blakely and Lori Greiner offered $250,000 jointly for 20 percent. O’Leary offered the same money for 10 percent. Radzely took O’Leary.
Why she turned down the bigger names
The math made that choice simple. $250,000 for 20 percent prices the company at $1.25 million. The same check for 10 percent prices it at $2.5 million. O’Leary’s offer was worth exactly twice as much on paper.
Taking the joint offer would have valued the business below where it stood before the pacifier ever reached a shelf, which is why it was turned down. Two of the most recognizable investors in the room walked away without a stake.
How sales moved after the episode aired
Before taping, The Pop had sold roughly 25,000 units for about $117,000 across four months. By October 2018, nine months after broadcast, the company was closing in on $1 million in sales. It has hovered around that $1 million a year mark since.
That jump is the real return on the appearance. The $250,000 mattered less than the 3.76 million people who watched a pacifier fold into itself on network television.
What changed at the company after the deal
The deal closed and O’Leary took a seat on the board. Three things followed.
The brand name moved to the front. The Pop stayed as the product name, and Doddle & Co. became the name customers saw on packaging and online.
The range grew past a single pacifier. The Pop & Go arrived with a firmer nipple for older babies, one that pinches shut for storage rather than popping when dropped. Silicone teethers and gift bundles followed.
Retail widened. The Pop was already in Nordstrom and Buy Buy Baby before the show. Afterwards it reached maternity chains including Destination Maternity and A Pea in the Pod, plus Macy’s, Walmart and Amazon.
There was one bad stretch in the middle of all that. In April 2018, three months after the episode aired, JP Morgan froze the company’s accounts. Payments stopped and the business stalled for about two weeks before the bank fixed the error and apologized.
What the founders’ stakes are worth
Company net worth and founder net worth are two different numbers, and the gap between them is wide.
At the $2.5 million valuation, the 90 percent Radzely and Badger kept between them was worth about $2.25 million on paper, split two ways and before tax. That was paper value in a private company with no buyer lined up, so it was never money either of them could spend. Their actual take-home came from salary and whatever profit a business doing about $1 million in sales throws off after manufacturing, retail margin and shipping.
Neither founder has published a personal net worth, and no figure for either of them appears in any public filing.
Is The Pop pacifier still sold?
Yes. Doddle & Co. still runs its own online store and still ships, and you can see the current pacifier range on the company site. Single pacifiers sit around $9.99, two-packs around $18.99, and gift bundles run from roughly $20 to $43.
The product has barely changed. It is one solid piece of 100 percent silicone, made without lead, PVC, BPA, latex or phthalates. The nipple sits in front of a round shield. A soft knock leaves it out and ready for the baby. A real drop makes it fold back into the bubble, so it never touches the floor. It is built for babies from birth to about six months, with the Pop & Go taking over once they start teething.
Who owns The Pop pacifier
Doddle & Co. was founded by Nicki Radzely and Janna Badger. Badger, an industrial designer, had the idea while working at a design firm in San Francisco. Radzely came out of healthcare marketing and worked from Montclair, New Jersey. They built the product over Skype while Badger lived in Asia, roughly 14 time zones away.
The first production run was funded on Kickstarter in October 2015, raising $22,708 from 642 backers against a $20,000 goal. The folding shield is covered by a granted US patent assigned to Doddle & Co. The Pop also won a Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association Innovation Award in 2017, before it ever reached the tank.
No venture round was ever raised, so O’Leary’s $250,000 remains the only outside investment on record.
Ownership has shifted since the show. In October 2023 the pacifier patent was assigned out of Doddle & Co., LLC and sold two days later to a company called D & CO USA LLC. The Pop and the Pop & Go still sell under the Doddle & Co. name. That transfer is one more reason the $2.5 million figure belongs to 2018 rather than to today.
Frequently asked questions
Did the Pop Pacifier deal with Kevin O’Leary actually close?
Yes. The $250,000 for 10 percent deal closed after filming and O’Leary joined the board. He helped push the rebrand to Doddle & Co. and opened doors at maternity retail chains.
How much does the Pop Pacifier make a year?
Doddle & Co. crossed $1 million in sales within about a year of the episode airing and has stayed near that level. Exact figures are not published, since the company is private.
Why did Nicki Radzely reject Lori Greiner and Sara Blakely?
Their joint offer was $250,000 for 20 percent, which valued the company at $1.25 million. O’Leary’s offer of the same money for 10 percent valued it at $2.5 million, twice as much.
Is The Pop pacifier still in business?
Yes. Doddle & Co. still sells The Pop and The Pop & Go through its own site and third-party retailers, with single pacifiers around $9.99 and multipacks around $18.99.
What episode of Shark Tank was the Pop Pacifier on?
Season 9, episode 19, first broadcast on January 21, 2018 to 3.76 million viewers. The sharks that night were Mark Cuban, Sara Blakely, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner and Daymond John.
Conclusion
The Pop pacifier is worth $2.5 million on the only valuation anyone can point to, the one Kevin O’Leary set in January 2018 by paying $250,000 for a tenth of Doddle & Co. Sales grew from roughly $117,000 before the show to around $1 million a year afterwards, and the company still sells pacifiers direct and through major retailers. Treat $2.5 million as the last confirmed figure rather than a current market price.
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