101–110 of 164 posts
Laying off the workers at the toy factory two weeks before Christmas is the thing the villain in an 80s kids movie would do. I don't mean that to be hyperbolic - like, literally, that's the sort of thing that was culturally cast as villainous behavior a generation or two ago.
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.
Executive salaries: https://www1.salary.com/HASBRO-INC-Executive-Salaries.html
That's probably 50% or more of the yearly cost of those workers.
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…
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…
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…
I have a hunch a lot of companies that layoff in December are also motivated by the bonus structure. Many companies structure their bonus pay around the new year in line with their fiscal calendar, either paying at the beginning of the year or entitling them to the bonus paid out later in the year.
I wonder what kind of social change would occur if each company was randomly assigned a quarter in which their taxes were due instead of everyone defaulting to the same exact time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
~$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…
Not saying the pay isn't outrageous, but most of the executive pay is in equity, which probably cost Hasbro next to nothing. They can't pay those laid off workers, probably making little more than minimum wage, with that.
It's costing the investors who they work for that much money.
It might not be impacting the balance sheet.
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…
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…
I think the other D&D game that came out recently (Dark Alliance) is probably a better example of devaluing the brand.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Call it poor marketing, or a concept that just didn't resonate with cover-judgers, but a common perception of it by those who didn't watch it is that it is a cash-in kid's B-movie. Some pap you get for free on a streaming service. Disappointing that perception exists.
I liked the D&D movie, though it definitely felt budget with some awful CG at times. For some reason, call it mid-pandemic boredom, my wife and I saw Hasbro's GI Joe film "Snake Eyes" in theaters. That was pretty awful.