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Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

polygon.com

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Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#91

Post by Eumenes »

faitswulff wrote: post #70
Keyframe wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eons ago, when I was in TV/movies business, I spoke with a prominent Forgotten Realms book author (if not _the_ author) about a certain book series he wrote that I thought it would make a fantastic TV series (in a world before netflix had their own production) and he nodded in agreement. I said let's make it it happen, let's warm up parties on both ends (I'm on production side, he would be on property side).. basical…

Was it R.A. Salvatore? I would love to watch Drizzt Do'Urden on the big screen.

aw, you beat me to typing this out. I've only read them once so I suspect a massive wave of nostalgia.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#92

Post by FredPret »

These guys are in a pickle.

Wild revenue swings, declining profit, high leverage of 70% (although that's in line with competitors Funko and Jakks who are at 62% and 73%). And through it all, they're paying a 5.7% dividend yield. They simply don't have the business to support that. [https://valustox.com/HAS, https://valustox.com/FNKO, https://valustox.com/JAKK]

Even Mattel is barely breaking even on a wild upward swing in revenue [https://valustox.com/MAT]

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#93

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

lancesells wrote: post #50

Executive salaries: https://www1.salary.com/HASBRO-INC-Executive-Salaries.html

~$37M for the execs listed, vs 1100 workers laid off - probably mostly making under $100k.

This is one of the rare cases in the layoff discussions where the exec salaries do seem quite excessive.

Hasbro had been averaging profits of around ~$250M for the last several years.

Paying ~5 people >10% of your profits is INSANE. Continuing to reward them handsomely as your profits drop from ~$250M to -$500M is REALLY INSANE.

Fire them. The new hires should be making 1/5th that or less.

And, yes, you can get someone competent to run Hasbro for $1M.

It's not a fusion reactor...

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#94

Post by corethree »

Keyframe wrote: post #43
oflannabhra wrote: post #28

Hasbro is essentially upside down, with huge losses across all their brands being subsidized by enormous growth from their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. Even with that growth, they are significantly down. There was a big investor push recently (led by Alta Fox) to get Hasbro to spin WotC out into an independent company [0], which failed. The big concern being that forcing growth on those properties (Magic: the Gat…

Eons ago, when I was in TV/movies business, I spoke with a prominent Forgotten Realms book author (if not _the_ author) about a certain book series he wrote that I thought it would make a fantastic TV series (in a world before netflix had their own production) and he nodded in agreement. I said let's make it it happen, let's warm up parties on both ends (I'm on production side, he would be on property side).. basical…

There's valid reasoning why a company wouldn't let another company make a movie or TV series. It cheapens the IP if the movie/series goes bad.

It's hard to describe the effect. Essentially this is what happened with LOTR.

Also take for instance the recent D&D movie which was just ok/slightly good. The movie cheapens the D&D IP, while something like Baldurs Gate builds on it.

Maybe from a business perspective it's the most profitable move but for the original subject the IP was centered around, whether it was books, games loses the charm if the movie sucks and Hollywood churns out shit movies for a quick buck really fast.

It's not always bad though. While Marvel did well, DC did not.

It's weirdly irrational but that's just how people behave.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#97

Post by wnevets »

slimsag wrote: post #78
oflannabhra wrote: post #28

Hasbro is essentially upside down, with huge losses across all their brands being subsidized by enormous growth from their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. Even with that growth, they are significantly down. There was a big investor push recently (led by Alta Fox) to get Hasbro to spin WotC out into an independent company [0], which failed. The big concern being that forcing growth on those properties (Magic: the Gat…

Hasbro needed to, and failed to (imo), transition into selling higher-end luxury toys for adults with nostalgia - and focus less on kids. With the exception of DnD, everything else Hasbro-owned has failed to capture such an audience I think. Their toys are generally priced ~$25 or less. Higher-end variants of their toys are not by Hasbro, but rather by other companies. Want a high-end nerf gun? You're going to Dart Z…

> Hasbro needed to, and failed to (imo), transition into selling higher-end luxury toys for adults with nostalgia - and focus less on kids.

Isn't Pulse/HasLab that? For example they have a $300 Ghost Trap and P.K.E. Meter.

[1] https://hasbropulse.com/collections/haslab/products/ghostbus...

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#99

Post by phero_cnstrcts »

influx wrote: post #86
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the country in the 80s didn't have a generation of brainwashing by Billionaires, Millionaires, and Temporarily-Displaced-Millionaires parroting the myth that the executive board of a publicly-traded company has a "fiduciary duty" to make as much money as possible.

Did you live through the 80s? I did and find this wildly inaccurate. See the Greed is Good memes and hero worship of Wall Street.

Yeah. That type of people have existed since forever. Today they just have more power than ever or just don’t try to hide it anymore.
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