The Energon Pub

So, an investment firm by the name of Alta Fox is attempting to force something of a coup of Hasbro's upper management. I've been discussing this with a close friend of mine (also a former Hasbro intern incidentally) and hoooooo boy.

This group owns a 3% share in Hasbro stock (about four hundred million dollars, unless my maths is badly off). They have laid out a presentation on why the specifically believe Hasbro should make Wizards of the Coast a separate company and separate stock, citing its incredibly high profit margin, and how Hasbro has apparently been mismanaging the brand (specifically Magic the Gathering) and thus restricting it from its true potential. They also wish to appoint 5 people to Hasbro's board of directors (numbering 11).

Now, for those wondering why this is a big deal, their suggestions would involve Hasbro no longer using funding from MTG/WOTC for anything outside of, well, MTG/WOTC, thus meaning Hasbro would have a lot less capital to invest in their other brands, including Transformers. If they did this it would also make WOTC a separate stock, which would skyrocket...whilst the value of Hasbro's main stock would plummet. Basically, if they did this it would be pretty awful for anyone not in WOTC.

Fortunately there's a fairly low risk of this actually going ahead. The firm in question appears to be mostly made of MTG fanboys who want to play at big business, and their pitch basically amounts to telling the big movers and shakers at Hasbro that they can't do their jobs properly. In addition, their presentation is rather...questionable. Amongst other howlers, they suggest appointing one Jon Finkle, AKA "The Michael Jordan of Magic: The Gathering" to the board of directors, and also make reference to a Hasbro MLP game that doesn't actually exist (the image is a fan project photoshopped onto a PS4 case). Also, whilst 3% of Hasbro stock is not insignificant, they probably don't have sufficient pull to get this done by themselves, so unless they somehow manage to persuade other major shareholders to side with them, it's rather likely they'll be told where they can stick their coup.

That being said I wouldn't say it's a foregone conclusion- they seem to be playing to Chris Cocks (the new Hasbro CEO, who is ex-WOTC) and a loss of 3% would be notable. The shareholder meeting is occurring in May, so we'll have to see where this goes.

Additional links here:
News report
Their page

This is actually a bit intriguing. I don't think it'll go far, but if WOTC is indeed a huge profit-generator for Hasbro and they are mismanaging it, then this argument and attempt is not completely without merit. But these are hardly the right people to do this. Like you said, they're MTG nerds trying to play at boardroom games.

This sounds a lot like the group of DC fanboys that wanted to buy DC from Warner Bros because they felt they could do a better job at managing the IP.

Show us your Business Degrees or GTHO.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Show us your Business Degrees or GTHO.

Is this directed at us or Alta Fox?

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Show us your Business Degrees or GTHO.

That's a bit harsh, and also incredibly out of character for you.

Burn wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Show us your Business Degrees or GTHO.

That's a bit harsh, and also incredibly out of character for you.

Sorry about that, when I read "fanboys" in reference to Alta Fox my faith in them and expectations of their potential attitudes weren't exactly the best I will admit. Yes, I can actually be narrow-minded and lash out, imagine that (something my wife has corrected me on on several occasions).

On their side, they will need to show they actually know what they're doing, have a viable business plan, a way to attract new players, actually think of what the current fans want and are willing to compromise. No offense, but the presentation feels like one of those mudslinging ads that I detest.

Silly question though, but how is the TCG market as a whole actually doing nowadays? They may claim mismanagement, but the viability of that market may also play a role.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Silly question though, but how is the TCG market as a whole actually doing nowadays? They may claim mismanagement, but the viability of that market may also play a role.

I can only speak for Yugioh,since its the only one I actively keep up with.In my view the market for TCG seens stable.There was a huge spike last year,thanks to Youtubers doing pack openinng videos.Pokemon in particular,was going out of stock in some places.

TulioDude wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Silly question though, but how is the TCG market as a whole actually doing nowadays? They may claim mismanagement, but the viability of that market may also play a role.

I can only speak for Yugioh,since its the only one I actively keep up with.In my view the market for TCG seens stable.There was a huge spike last year,thanks to Youtubers doing pack openinng videos.Pokemon in particular,was going out of stock in some places.

This isn't about the TCG market, it's about the digital gaming market. The fanboy-oriented pitch is all about Magic as a whole, but the financials are about just one thing: MtG Arena.

An update on this, for any interested, is that, unsurprisingly, Hasbro rejected the proposal to spin WotC off. All Alta Fox nominees were also rejected for the board roles.

https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/hasbro-wizards-of-the-coast-spin-off

"The activist investor had initially proposed five board members, but, in an interview with Yahoo! Finance last week, Alta Fox founder Connor Haley claims it compromised on adding just one nominee to Hasbro’s board.

"This nominee was also rejected, however, and Hasbro announced on Monday it was instead appointing Discord COO Elizabeth Hamren and former Electronic Arts CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen."

This is similar to how my proposal to Hasbro went. I requested that they send me every Generations toy they produce each year, but when that didn't get a positive response, I generously compromised that to every toy they produce this year. They have not acted on my proposal and I must keep buying them with my own money.

ZeroWolf wrote:An update on this, for any interested, is that, unsurprisingly, Hasbro rejected the proposal to spin WotC off. All Alta Fox nominees were also rejected for the board roles.

https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/hasbro-wizards-of-the-coast-spin-off

Ha! Well that settles that then!

AcademyofDrX wrote:"The activist investor had initially proposed five board members, but, in an interview with Yahoo! Finance last week, Alta Fox founder Connor Haley claims it compromised on adding just one nominee to Hasbro’s board.

"This nominee was also rejected, however, and Hasbro announced on Monday it was instead appointing Discord COO Elizabeth Hamren and former Electronic Arts CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen."

This is similar to how my proposal to Hasbro went. I requested that they send me every Generations toy they produce each year, but when that didn't get a positive response, I generously compromised that to every toy they produce this year. They have not acted on my proposal and I must keep buying them with my own money.

You tried that as well? They wouldn't talk to me either

AcademyofDrX wrote:"The activist investor had initially proposed five board members, but, in an interview with Yahoo! Finance last week, Alta Fox founder Connor Haley claims it compromised on adding just one nominee to Hasbro’s board.

"This nominee was also rejected, however, and Hasbro announced on Monday it was instead appointing Discord COO Elizabeth Hamren and former Electronic Arts CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen."

This is similar to how my proposal to Hasbro went. I requested that they send me every Generations toy they produce each year, but when that didn't get a positive response, I generously compromised that to every toy they produce this year. They have not acted on my proposal and I must keep buying them with my own money.

For shame. How dare they? They're definitely out of touch with today's market place and consumer.

So apparently this isn't over, as another group has appeared demanding that Hasbro spin off its Entertainment arm, and that they should agree with Alta Fox. I have to wonder what's really driving these decisions.

ZeroWolf wrote:So apparently this isn't over, as another group has appeared demanding that Hasbro spin off its Entertainment arm, and that they should agree with Alta Fox. I have to wonder what's really driving these decisions.

If at first you don't succeed, try again... under a different name.

ZeroWolf wrote:So apparently this isn't over, as another group has appeared demanding that Hasbro spin off its Entertainment arm, and that they should agree with Alta Fox. I have to wonder what's really driving these decisions.

Money, it's what drives all decisions in the corporate world. But if they can't organize a a majority vote then there's nothing they can do.

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:So apparently this isn't over, as another group has appeared demanding that Hasbro spin off its Entertainment arm, and that they should agree with Alta Fox. I have to wonder what's really driving these decisions.

Money, it's what drives all decisions in the corporate world. But if they can't organize a a majority vote then there's nothing they can do.

They'll never get a majority decision as long as their ideas devolve to "see this part of your company that's making a boat load of money? Yeah, let's get rid of that!"