Hasbro is laying off 1,100 employees, according to a new report SEC filing. The company behind franchises like Dungeons & Dragons and Transformers, Hasbro has already laid off 800 employees In January. While some employees will find out the fate of their jobs on Tuesday, others will be laid off next year. Hasbro told shareholders that by 2025, the company hopes to save about $350 million to $400 million in costs.
Hasbro CEO Chris Cox wrote in a… Memo to employees — shared in its SEC filing — that it will turn the company’s attention toward licensing opportunities and expanding entertainment and “free.”[ing] Increase our content funds to drive new brand development. He blames the company’s losses on mysterious “market headwinds.”
Hasbro’s total revenue fell 10% year over year. But Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), the company that makes Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and Magic the Gathering, which brings more than Billion dollar every year. In the division of the company that runs WoTC and digital games, revenues are rising 40% on an annual basis to $423.6 million, achieving an operating profit of $203.4 million. Despite this tremendous growth, Hasbro as a whole has struggled. So, it appears that Cox is refocusing Hasbro’s efforts on what actually makes the company money.
D&D has become increasingly popular over the past several years, largely due to third-party content creators like Critical Role and Dimension 20, where the D&D band plays for the entertainment of the audience. The series has also had major success this year with a Hollywood film and the hugely successful Baldur’s Gate III, a video game that licenses the Dungeons & Dragons IP. Just last week, Baldur’s Gate won Game of the year In game awards.
Hasbro finds itself at a strange crossroads – its toy business is declining, and yet it suddenly has an unexpected cash cow in Wizards of the Coast, which it bought 24 years ago.
“The distribution and development strategy is a broad four-quadrant strategy, where we have this strong brand that has similar awareness, like ‘Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Harry Potter,’” Cox said on a show. Investor appeal Last December, which gave us an insight into the company’s plans. But there are growing pains in Hasbro’s attempt to turn Dungeons & Dragons — a game system where groups of players develop their own plots and characters — into something like Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings, where every fan knows the same characters and stories. While “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” received good reviews when it was released in March, it ultimately… Poor performance To the office box.
“For Hasbro to grow, we must first ensure that our organization is strong and profitable,” Cox wrote in a company memo. “To achieve this, we need to modernize our organization and become leaner.”