Hasbro Reports First Quarter 2018 Financial Results

Second quarter 2018 revenues of $904.5 million;
U.S. and Canada segment revenues down 7%; International segment revenues down 11%; Entertainment and Licensing revenues up 26%;
Operating profit margin of 9.7%;
Reported net earnings of $60.3 million, or $0.48 per diluted share;
Strengthened brand portfolio with acquisition of POWER RANGERS;
Ended the quarter with $1.2 billion in cash and returned $152.8 million to shareholders; $78.7 million in dividends and $74.1 million in share repurchases.

PAWTUCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 23, 2018-- Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today reported financial results for the second quarter 2018. Net revenues for the second quarter 2018 decreased 7% to $904.5 million versus $972.5 million in 2017. The lower revenues reflect the liquidation of Toys“R”Us in the U.S. and many other global markets. In addition, revenues declined internationally, most notably in Europe, as a result of managing retail inventory amid a rapidly evolving retail landscape.

Net earnings for the second quarter 2018 were $60.3 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, compared to $67.7 million, or $0.53 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2017.

“2018 is unfolding as expected as our teams manage the liquidation of Toys“R”Us in many markets and address the rapidly evolving European retail landscape,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We are investing in our business - in innovation, entertainment and a modern global commercial organization, to drive profitable growth in 2019 and beyond. Consumer takeaway is up for our brands, and we further strengthened our brand portfolio through the acquisition of POWER RANGERS. We are focused on moving beyond the near-term disruption of losing a major customer, with a clear path forward including new retailer activations to meet the consumer demand made available by the Toys“R”Us departure.”

“Our global teams executed well despite the disruption in the market,” said Deborah Thomas, Hasbro’s chief financial officer. “With $1.2 billion in cash, and a healthy balance sheet, our financial position is strong. Our diverse portfolio enabled us to partially offset the negative margin impact from lower revenues, but not entirely. We are working with our retailers to successfully execute their plans for Hasbro’s innovative portfolio this holiday season.”

Second Quarter 2018 Major Segment Performance

Net Revenues ($ Millions) Operating Profit ($ Millions)
Q2 2018 Q2 2017 % Change Q2 2018 Q2 2017 % Change
U.S. and Canada $459.3 $494.4 -7% $76.2 $81.6 -7%
International $380.4 $426.6 -11% $0.2 $16.9 -99%
Entertainment and Licensing $64.7 $51.5 +26% $18.6 $11.3 +64%


Second quarter 2018 U.S. and Canada segment net revenues decreased 7% to $459.3 million compared to $494.4 million in 2017. The segment reported an operating profit of $76.2 million, or 16.6% of net revenues, compared to an operating profit of $81.6 million, or 16.5% of net revenues, in 2017. The segment’s quarterly performance was negatively impacted by the loss of Toys“R”Us revenues and the near-term disruption of its stores’ liquidation in the marketplace. Favorable product mix helped offset the negative impact of lower revenues on operating profit margin.

Second quarter 2018 International segment net revenues were $380.4 million, down 11%, compared to $426.6 million in 2017. Revenues in the segment were negatively impacted by efforts to clear excess retail inventory in Europe, as well as the loss of Toys“R”Us revenues in many Europe and Asia Pacific markets. International segment revenues include a favorable $2.6 million impact of foreign exchange. On a regional basis, Europe net revenues decreased 16%, Latin America decreased 3% and Asia Pacific decreased 5%. Emerging markets net revenues decreased 9% in the quarter. The International segment reported an operating profit of $0.2 million compared to an operating profit of $16.9 million in 2017. The decline in operating profit reflects lower revenues combined with fixed cost deleveraging.

Entertainment and Licensing segment net revenues increased 26% to $64.7 million compared to $51.5 million in 2017. Operating profit increased 64% to $18.6 million, or 28.8% of net revenues, compared to $11.3 million, or 22.0% of net revenues, in 2017. The adoption of ASC 606 Revenue from Contracts with Customers favorably impacted the timing of revenue recognition in the quarter, in addition to the continued underlying success in our licensing and entertainment businesses.

Second Quarter 2018 Brand Portfolio Performance




Net Revenues ($ Millions)
Q2 2018 Q2 2017 % Change

Six Months
2018


Six Months
2017
% Change
Franchise Brands $506.5 $552.4 -8% $868.2 $1,001.6 -13%
Partner Brands $208.0 $230.0 -10% $408.6 $443.0 -8%
Hasbro Gaming* $134.3 $133.9 -- $239.5 $269.6 -11%
Emerging Brands $55.6 $56.2 -1% $104.5 $108.0 -3%

*Hasbro’s total gaming category, including all gaming revenue, most notably MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY, which are included in Franchise Brands in the table above, totaled $312.8 million for the second quarter 2018, up 14%, versus $273.3 million in the second quarter 2017.This category was down 2% to $516.3 million for the six months 2018 versus $526.6 million for the six months 2017.Hasbro believes its gaming portfolio is a competitive differentiator and views it in its entirety.

Second quarter 2018 revenues were negatively impacted by the liquidation of Toys“R”Us in the U.S. and many other global markets, including lower Toys“R”Us revenues and the near-term disruption of its stores’ liquidation in the marketplace, as well as managing retail inventory, primarily in Europe.

Second quarter 2018 Franchise Brand revenues decreased 8% to $506.5 million. Growth in MAGIC: THE GATHERING, MONOPOLY and BABY ALIVE were offset by declines in the other Franchise Brands in the quarter, including TRANSFORMERS which declined versus the movie launch in the second quarter 2017. Franchise Brand revenues grew in the Entertainment and Licensing segment and declined in the U.S. and Canada and International segments.

Partner Brand revenues declined 10% to $208.0 million. Revenue growth in BEYBLADE and MARVEL was more than offset by declines in other Partner Brands. Partner Brand revenues decreased in the U.S. and Canada and International segments.

Hasbro Gaming revenue increased slightly to $134.3 million. Revenue gains in DUNGEONS and DRAGONS, DUEL MASTER, JENGA and DON’T STEP IN IT were partially offset by declines in other properties. Hasbro Gaming revenues increased in the International segment and the Entertainment and Licensing segment; but declined in the U.S. and Canada segment. Hasbro’s total gaming category was up 14% to $312.8 million, including growth in MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY.

Emerging Brand revenue declined 1% to $55.6 million. The category benefited from several new initiatives, including LOST KITTIES and LOCK STARS. This was offset by declines in other Emerging Brands. Emerging Brands revenues grew in the International segment and declined in the U.S. and Canada segment and the Entertainment and Licensing segment.

Dividend and Share Repurchase

The Company paid $78.7 million in cash dividends to shareholders during the second quarter 2018. The next quarterly cash dividend payment of $0.63 per common share is scheduled for August 15, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 1, 2018.

During the second quarter, Hasbro repurchased 820,343 shares of common stock at a total cost of $74.1 million and an average price of $90.33 per share. Through the first six months of 2018, the Company repurchased 1.2 million shares of common stock at a total cost of $112.9 million and an average price of $90.50. At quarter-end, $565.1 million remained available in the current share repurchase authorizations, including the additional $500 million authorized by the Board of Directors during the second quarter.

Conference Call Webcast

Hasbro will webcast its second quarter 2018 earnings conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today. To listen to the live webcast and access the accompanying presentation slides, please go to http://investor.hasbro.com. The replay of the call will be available on Hasbro’s web site approximately 2 hours following completion of the call.

About Hasbro: Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a global play and entertainment company committed to Creating the World's Best Play Experiences. From toys and games to television, movies, digital gaming and consumer products, Hasbro offers a variety of ways for audiences to experience its iconic brands, including NERF, MY LITTLE PONY, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH, MONOPOLY, BABY ALIVE and MAGIC: THE GATHERING, as well as premier partner brands. Through its entertainment labels, Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation, the Company is building its brands globally through great storytelling and content on all screens. Hasbro is committed to making the world a better place for children and their families through corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. Hasbro ranked No. 1 on the 2017 100 Best Corporate Citizens list by CR Magazine and has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere Institute for the past seven years. Learn more at www.hasbro.com and follow us on Twitter (@Hasbro & @HasbroNews) and Instagram (@Hasbro).

© 2018 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Certain statements in this release contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include expectations concerning the Company’s potential performance in the future and the Company’s ability to achieve its financial and business goals and may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases. The Company's actual actions or results may differ materially from those expected or anticipated in the forward-looking statements due to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Specific factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: (i) the Company's ability to design, develop, produce, manufacture, source and ship products on a timely and cost-effective basis, as well as interest in and purchase of those products by retail customers and consumers in quantities and at prices that will be sufficient to recover the Company’s costs and earn a profit; (ii) downturns in economic conditions impacting one or more of the markets in which the Company sells products, such as the economic downturns which impacted the United Kingdom and Brazil in 2017, which can negatively impact the Company’s retail customers and consumers, and which can result in lower employment levels, lower consumer disposable income, lower retailer inventories and lower spending, including lower spending on purchases of the Company’s products; (iii) other factors which can lower discretionary consumer spending, such as higher costs for fuel and food, drops in the value of homes or other consumer assets, and high levels of consumer debt; (iv) consumer interest in entertainment properties, such as motion pictures, for which the Company is developing and marketing products, and the ability to drive sales of products associated with such entertainment properties; (v) potential difficulties or delays the Company may experience in implementing cost savings and efficiency enhancing initiatives; (vi) other economic and public health conditions or regulatory changes in the markets in which the Company and its customers and suppliers operate which could create delays or increase the Company’s costs, such as higher commodity prices, labor costs or transportation costs, or outbreaks of disease; (vii) currency fluctuations, including movements in foreign exchange rates, which can lower the Company’s net revenues and earnings, and significantly impact the Company’s costs; (viii) the concentration of the Company's customers, potentially increasing the negative impact to the Company of difficulties experienced by any of the Company’s customers or changes in their purchasing or selling patterns; (ix) consumer interest in and acceptance of the Discovery Family Channel, and programming created by Hasbro Studios, and other factors impacting the financial performance of the network and Hasbro Studios; (x) the inventory policies of the Company’s retail customers, including retailers’ potential decisions to lower their inventories, even if it results in lost sales, as well as the concentration of the Company's revenues in the second half and fourth quarter of the year, which coupled with reliance by retailers on quick response inventory management techniques increases the risk of underproduction of popular items, overproduction of less popular items and failure to achieve compressed shipping schedules; (xi) delays, increased costs or difficulties associated with any of our or our partners’ planned digital applications or media initiatives; (xii) work disruptions, which may impact the Company's ability to manufacture or deliver product in a timely and cost-effective manner; (xiii) the bankruptcy or other lack of success of one of the Company's significant retailers, such as the bankruptcy of Toys“R”Us in the United States and Canada in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the beginning of liquidation of those businesses, as well as economic difficulty of Toys“R”Us in other markets, which could negatively impact the Company's revenues or bad debt exposure; (xiv) the impact of competition on revenues, margins and other aspects of the Company's business, including the ability to offer Company products which consumers choose to buy instead of competitive products, the ability to secure, maintain and renew popular licenses and the ability to attract and retain talented employees; (xv) concentration of manufacturing for many of the Company’s products in the People’s Republic of China and the associated impact to the Company of social, economic or public health conditions and other factors affecting China, the movement of products into and out of China, the cost of producing products in China and exporting them to other countries, including without limitation, the potential application of tariffs to products the Company purchases from vendors in China, which would significantly increase the price of the Company’s products and harm sales; (xvi) the risk of product recalls or product liability suits and costs associated with product safety regulations; (xvii) the impact of other market conditions, third party actions or approvals and competition which could reduce demand for the Company’s products or delay or increase the cost of implementation of the Company's programs or alter the Company's actions and reduce actual results; (xviii) changes in tax laws or regulations, or the interpretation and application of such laws and regulations, such as what may occur as the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is interpreted and applied, which may cause the Company to alter tax reserves or make other changes which significantly impact its reported financial results; (xix) the impact of litigation or arbitration decisions or settlement actions; and (xx) other risks and uncertainties as may be detailed from time to time in the Company's public announcements and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings. The Company undertakes no obligation to make any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.

The financial tables accompanying this press release include non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules, specifically Adjusted net earnings and Adjusted earnings per diluted share, excluding the impact of charges associated with the Toys“R”Us liquidation; severance costs and U.S. tax reform in the first quarter of 2018, as well as Adjusted operating profit absent the impact of the charges associated with the Toys“R”Us liquidation and severance costs. Also included in the financial tables are the non-GAAP financial measures of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. EBITDA represents net earnings attributable to Hasbro, Inc. excluding interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA also excludes the impact of charges associated with the Toys“R”Us liquidation and severance costs in the first quarter of 2018. As required by SEC rules, we have provided reconciliations on the attached schedules of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Management believes that Adjusted net earnings, Adjusted earnings per diluted share and Adjusted operating profit absent the impact of charges associated with the Toys“R”Us liquidation and severance costs in the first quarter of 2018 provides investors with an understanding of the underlying performance of the Company’s business absent these unusual events. Management believes that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are appropriate measures for evaluating the operating performance of the Company because they reflect the resources available for strategic opportunities including, among others, to invest in the business, strengthen the balance sheet and make strategic acquisitions. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, or superior to, net earnings or other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP as more fully discussed in the Company's financial statements and filings with the SEC. As used herein, "GAAP" refers to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

HAS-E

carytheone wrote:So if they're moving production out of China, does that mean less cheap KOs?

Flashwave wrote:

carytheone wrote:So if they're moving production out of China, does that mean less cheap KOs?

Thats an Interesting question, but I doubt it. It may depend on what moves and where. the first link says "Back Stateside" and the others just say "Out of China." the Model Train Manufacturers have been going to Vietnam I believe, so the Toy Makers may follow suit.

Samantha Lomow promoted to President, Hasbro Entertainment Brands; Jonathan Berkowitz promoted to President, Hasbro Brands

PAWTUCKET, R.I.—Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced the promotion of Samantha Lomow to President, Hasbro Entertainment Brands, and Jonathan Berkowitz to President, Hasbro Brands. Both leaders will continue to report to John Frascotti, Hasbro President and Chief Operating Officer.

“Samantha and Jonathan are exceptional leaders, passionate about innovation and dedicated to our mission to create the world’s best play experiences,” said Frascotti. “We are confident that in their new roles, they will help us accelerate the momentum behind our business and brands.”

During her 18-year tenure at the company, Ms. Lomow has played a tremendous role in growing Hasbro brands and expanding them beyond the toy space. She has been instrumental in the TRANSFORMERS franchise since the first movie in 2007, and she helped bring MY LITTLE PONY to the big screen for the first time.

In her new role, she will be responsible for leading all of Hasbro’s current, new and vault entertainment-driven, story-led brands. This includes oversight for MY LITTLE PONY, TRANSFORMERS and POWER RANGERS, among others, and continuing to partner with Allspark on emerging entertainment brands. She will also continue to lead Hasbro’s strategic partner portfolio, including relationships with The Walt Disney Company, Universal, Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop and Blizzard Entertainment.

In his 15 years at Hasbro, Mr. Berkowitz has led a number of brands across the portfolio, including NERF, which he led to its Franchise Brand status in 2011. Most recently, he has overseen the Hasbro Gaming portfolio, which has grown significantly under his leadership with new products and brands, as well as reimagined classics. He has also been instrumental in rolling out the Company’s Quick Strike approach, which has become an important differentiator for Hasbro in getting trends and new product ideas to market in record time.

In his new role, Mr. Berkowitz will oversee the Hasbro Gaming portfolio, including MONOPOLY, as well as NERF, PLAY-DOH, BABY ALIVE, FURREAL, and initiatives driven by the Quick Strike team, among others. He will also manage all new and vault brands not driven by entertainment.

About Hasbro

Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a global play and entertainment company committed to Creating the World's Best Play Experiences. From toys and games to television, movies, digital gaming and consumer products, Hasbro offers a variety of ways for audiences to experience its iconic brands, including NERF, MY LITTLE PONY, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH, MONOPOLY, BABY ALIVE and MAGIC: THE GATHERING, as well as premier partner brands. Through its entertainment labels, Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation, the Company is building its brands globally through great storytelling and content on all screens. Hasbro is committed to making the world a better place for children and their families through corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. Hasbro ranked No. 5 on the 2018 100 Best Corporate Citizens list by CR Magazine and has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere Institute for the past seven years. Learn more at www.hasbro.com, and follow us on Twitter (@Hasbro & @HasbroNews) and Instagram (@Hasbro).

© 2018 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Caelus wrote:*Cue triggered misogynists whinging about a woman being promoted to a leadership role.*

While the company won't confirm layoffs, Hasbro said Wednesday it is making "meaningful organizational changes" that will affect "a single-digit percentage" of its global workforce.

The Providence-based toymaker sent a statement to Eyewitness News after inquiries about possible layoffs at the company.

"While some of these changes are difficult, we must ensure we have the right teams in place with the right capabilities to lead the company into the future," spokeswoman Julie Duffy said in a statement. "We continue to add new capabilities based on our understanding of the consumer and how our retailers are going to market, while evolving the way we organize our business across our Brand Blueprint."

The announcement of Hasbro making changes comes a day after Pomerantz Law Firm said that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Hasbro, Inc. as to whether Hasbro and certain of its officers and/or directors "have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices."

"The claims have no merit and we intend to vigorously defend against them," said Duffy and that the staff cuts are unrelated.

According to reports, in October of 2017 Hasbro said they saw a 5% decline in the Company’s U.S. and Canada segment’s operating profit to $217.3 million, compared to $228 million in 2016.

After the disclosures, Hasbro’s stock dropped $8.44 per share and closed at $89.75 per share on October 23, 2017.

AcademyofDrX wrote:The excerpt below is directly from PR wire copy:

"According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Hasbro's relationship with Toys ''R'' Us was becoming increasingly important to Hasbro's business, but Toys ''R'' Us was in far worse financial condition than was being publicly reported; (2) Hasbro was experiencing significant undisclosed adverse sales issues in two key markets - the United Kingdom and Brazil - which were negatively impacting Hasbro's efforts to grow sales in those markets; and (3) as a result of foregoing, defendants' statements about Hasbro's business and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages."

Companies are required by law to tell their shareholders how their business is doing. These statements have to be truthful. The alleged fraud is basically that before the TRU bankruptcy, Hasbro said that things were okay, and after they weren't very okay. That's the gist of it. Ther no expectation that there are fudged numbers in a ledger, but if Hasbro knew the risks of the bankruptcy and didn't tell investors, that would make those statements false. I wouldn't recommend reading too much into this stuff.

fenrir72 wrote:This is SERIOUS folks!

Hb has its mitts on TF, SW,Marvel and Disney! The last 3 are Disney territory. Whether we like to admit it or not, SW and Marvel have been getting a bit too left political, heck, even ESPN (another Disney property) aka the boring sports channel because it no longer talks about sports has suffered greatly with low ratings and subscribers leaving.

https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/bob-ig ... field.html

Nothing wrong being SJW and all but there is a time and place for it (not with our suspension of disbelief hobbies playtime). Not to mention a recent study (see link)

https://www.moreincommon.com/hidden-tribes/ I

shows only about 8% to 10% of the American populace are the noisy nutjobs! The rest are just the busy normal average Joe and Jane who care for nothing of the white noise (i.e. APOLITICAL).

Yet when big companies like Disney placate to these groups who don't even invest (i.e. SPEND) in such products, alienating the silent majority, ..........there bye damaging the brand.

Trouble is, it was Hb who also got hit with huge INVENTORIES of unsold SW products (Marvel Comics isn't doing too good either). I am willing to bet this took a huge chunk of the "black" Hb profits leading it to bleed red (don't get me started with the clusterfrck of the last two TF movies and the overkill with Bumblebee).

Let's pray that Hb and its stockholders recover from this or ELSE......might take TF down with them in the drain.

fenrir72 wrote::-(

Coptur wrote:Truth hurts?

ScottyP wrote:

fenrir72 wrote::-(

This was a poorly written, borderline irrelevant post that reflects poorly on the Seibertron.com community. I urge you to do better in the future and focus on the facts presented rather than associate them with carefully selected talking points that have nothing to do with the article posted.

Short Circuit wrote:I didn't realize children's toy companies including messages of inclusiveness, diversity, honor, and the like counts as "leaning towards the left." But then again, I'm not paranoid.

Black Hat wrote:In the case of SW especially, not helped IMO by how bad some of those figures look. Like, I know a pocket money toy is never going to stand up to a Figuarts, but when the majority of the figures on sale are these mushy little 5POA things that wouldn't look out of place in the late 70s (and don't even have the same charm as the older figures) and the few decently poseable figures are too expensive for the young 'uns (£20 is a lot for a 6" figure in the context of little Jimmy's pocket money) and too poorly made for us overgrown children (compared to the Figuarts or Mafex offerings, Hasbro's SW figures just aren't very good) you can see why they didn't exactly fly off shelves.

AcademyofDrX wrote:Just a quick note for everyone: the lawsuit alleges misrepresentation, but is not itself evidence of fraud. The suit itself basically boils down to a very simple idea: the collapse of TRU had a significant impact on Hasbro's business and Hasbro knew more about the risk from TRU than they disclosed to investors. This kind of thing happens all the time when there are big stock drops.

I mention all of this as a casual observer, I have no personal or professional stake in any of this. Lawsuits are never good news, but there's nothing in this that should concern casual toy collectors. This is up to their legal teams and insurance.

Flashwave wrote:...What I am interpreting is that a few higher ups did something illegal, which could be embezzling or falsely reporting money or lying on Quarterly Profits. ....as a way of keeping the organization as a while clean, what we are seeing as "Layoffs" is is a non-biased way of saying "Hasbro is electing to let go of the people under indictment and or the people under indictment and those guilty of assisting...

AcademyofDrX wrote:....The suit itself basically boils down to a very simple idea: the collapse of TRU had a significant impact on Hasbro's business and Hasbro knew more about the risk from TRU than they disclosed to investors....

There's nothing in this that should concern casual toy collectors. This is up to their legal teams and insurance.

AcademyofDrX wrote:The lawsuit doesn't allege that kind of fraud. The excerpt below is directly from PR wire copy:

"According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Hasbro's relationship with Toys ''R'' Us was becoming increasingly important to Hasbro's business, but Toys ''R'' Us was in far worse financial condition than was being publicly reported; (2) Hasbro was experiencing significant undisclosed adverse sales issues in two key markets - the United Kingdom and Brazil - which were negatively impacting Hasbro's efforts to grow sales in those markets; and (3) as a result of foregoing, defendants' statements about Hasbro's business and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages."

Companies are required by law to tell their shareholders how their business is doing. These statements have to be truthful. The alleged fraud is basically that before the TRU bankruptcy, Hasbro said that things were okay, and after they weren't very okay. That's the gist of it. Ther no expectation that there are fudged numbers...
.

Caelus wrote:I could get all raging "SJW" about things, but I'll say this instead.

Adult collectors make up a portion of toy consumers.

Straight white male collectors (what I infer to be the "disenfranchised" group of fans people are mewling about) make up a portion of adult collectors.

Politically conservative (or anti-liberal) collectors make up a portion of that "disenfranchised" demographic.

Collectors that pay attention to off-screen political twitter drama make up a portion of those conservative collectors.

Collectors that care enough about that drama to amend their shopping habits make up a portion of the collectors who pay attention to the drama.

Let's be generous and say that 50% of toy buyers are adult collectors, 50% of those collectors are part of a "disenfranchised" demographic (I have to use quotes because I can't even type that with a straight face), 50% of that demographic is anti-liberal, 50% of those anti-liberal collectors pay attention to what directors & content producers say on platforms like Twitter (which is really unlikely since only 20% of Americans use Twitter), and that 50% of those people will forego buying a Solo action figure because of something the director of another movie said that offended them.

.50 ^ 5 = 0.03125

So in the extremely unlikely situation that all of those strata are split 50/50, that accounts for a 3% dip in toy sales, and only in the licensed, collector-marketed toy sales (e.g., Star Wars: Black Series), which themselves make up only a portion of Hasbro's products. And that also doesn't consider the corresponding increase in toy sales that would come from inclusive story-telling and content creators voicing progressive morals.

Meanwhile, child population growth is slowing due to people having fewer kids, and children are continuing to shift their interest to interactive media (e.g., tablet games, consoles) for their indoor entertainment. I suspect that has a LOT more to do with poor brand performance than some anti-SJWs feeling butt-hurt because companies are paying attention to other demographic groups.

Flashwave wrote: Could we put this in the News Article, cause this really helps shape context more than the vague snippets in the post. Its not about Hasbro being in trouble because of shelfwarming or bad toy drsigns, its about lying and lying about the TRU impact.

AcademyofDrX wrote:No need to watch the WCBS vid, Comicsgate is trash. I'm not surprised that movement continues to try to expand into other fan communities.