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Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

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Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#51
post #8

A layoff gives managers the opportunity to fire people who they've wanted to fire for a while. The firings within WotC were likely opportunistic and not about trying to change the direction or strength of the company. Doing it as part of larger layoffs gives an excuse for it and in theory mitigates drama.

That would be true if it was managers actually making the decision who to fire. It's increasingly centralized all the way to the top.

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#52
post #2

The market seems to disagree with the piece. The stock was in free fall from early October and recovered a bit after the layoff announcement. Anyone have an idea why?

Because layoffs provide profitability, rough as it is. However! What Hasbro is doing to WOTC is tremendously short term thinking. You do not prune the organizations that are providing all of your liquidity in a time of crisis for fear of pruning the wrong branch and diminishing the growth by sending a message to key people that it’s time to go, which is always possible and arguably likely when you cut. I believe that…

> have been doing a lot of good decision making in recent years.

Wait, what? Aren't these the same people who tried to rug-pull the D&D license and caused a bunch of MtG drama with new cards that almost crashed the card market? Perhaps those decrees came from Hasbro, but we outsiders can't really know that, can we?

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#53
post #2

The market seems to disagree with the piece. The stock was in free fall from early October and recovered a bit after the layoff announcement. Anyone have an idea why?

Because layoffs provide profitability, rough as it is. However! What Hasbro is doing to WOTC is tremendously short term thinking. You do not prune the organizations that are providing all of your liquidity in a time of crisis for fear of pruning the wrong branch and diminishing the growth by sending a message to key people that it’s time to go, which is always possible and arguably likely when you cut. I believe that…

Earnings per laid off employee seems like an odd metric. It makes the decision sound more "rational" the more employees are laid off (which is clearly backwards), and would give ridiculous numbers for companies with very few or zero layoffs.

I only skimmed the linked article, but they don't seem to bother justifying why this metric matters.

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#54
post #8

A layoff gives managers the opportunity to fire people who they've wanted to fire for a while. The firings within WotC were likely opportunistic and not about trying to change the direction or strength of the company. Doing it as part of larger layoffs gives an excuse for it and in theory mitigates drama.

Ah you beat me to it. Layoffs like this mitigate the drama for sure, but also mitigates legal liability, which just goes to show you; you're a fool to remain loyal to the company. A lot of the people fired were rated highly in their performance reviews, I'm sure. But if you're too ambitious or criticized the boss for making a mistake or just looked at him wrong... you're gone. My advice: - Always be interviewing - Ne…

Nah.

Hold yourself and those around you to high standards and you’ll develop a keen sense for when people aren’t doing the same.

That helps you avoid the shitty companies and bosses that make these coping mechanisms seem necessary.

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#55
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because layoffs provide profitability, rough as it is. However! What Hasbro is doing to WOTC is tremendously short term thinking. You do not prune the organizations that are providing all of your liquidity in a time of crisis for fear of pruning the wrong branch and diminishing the growth by sending a message to key people that it’s time to go, which is always possible and arguably likely when you cut. I believe that…

The current CEO, Chris Cocks, was the President of WOTC from 2016 to 2022.

Ah, then perhaps my opinion is outdated or incorrect. I did not know.

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#56

I really miss 2016 MtG. I remember when full art lands and full art promos were RARE and with money for no reason other than their collectability. I really liked when cards were rare because of the fact that they were good and uncommon and maybe because they were the same as the regular card but foil, not because they were arbitrarily a different type of shiny, or like when that one card from Kamigawa had a different…

My theory is that all cards will eventually be under $10, because cards like Mana Crypt are opportunities for WoTC to make money via reprints. I’ve only been playing/buying since March, but I’ve seen so many cards dropping dramatically in price, much more often than seeing a card shoot up in price. Reprints help drive sales and justify the higher prices for booster packs.

Cutting staff implies that, perhaps, they anticipate more Universes Beyond and reprints, and fewer original sets with original mechanics. Universes Beyond is great for Wizards because they don’t have to really invent cards, and fans will pay whatever they ask for cards from their favorite shows and movies and games.

This month people are losing their minds over the Princess Bride and Dr. Malcolm Secret Lair sets.

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#58
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Try to work two or more remote jobs What, routinely? No.

It's not as hard as you think, especially if you do contract work on the side while you have a full time job.

So now you have three jobs?

You work too much.

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#59
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Try to work two or more remote jobs What, routinely? No.

It's not as hard as you think, especially if you do contract work on the side while you have a full time job.

How much money do you need?

Re: Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling

#60

This comes after this year selling the rights to the Transformers movie series, an arguably larger hit to their ability to have mainstream impact. It seems very unlikely they wouldn't be looking for a buyer for WotC as well, and trimming down to just the IP may be making it a better sale. The company is struggling and likely pulling out all the stops the avoid bankruptcy, when you need liquidity this could very much…

The quality of the IP that they sold off w/ eOne, both on the music side in their 2021 sale and the tv/movie side with this recent one, is staggering.

Notably, the entire Death Row Records catalog, Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds, international distribution for The Walking Dead, etc.

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