Hasbro Is Cutting About 1,000 Jobs

1/26/2023 Hasbro

Hasbro announced this morning that it'll cut 15% off its workforce globally. You can read the full press release here.

PAWTUCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 2023-- Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), a global branded entertainment leader, today announced leadership and organizational changes, including the elimination of approximately 15% of its global workforce this year. The reductions will start to take effect within the next several weeks. With these actions, along with ongoing systems and supply chain investments, the Company is on track to achieve its goal of $250-300M in annual run-rate cost savings by year-end 2025 to drive profitability and reinvestment in core brand growth.

"Despite strong growth in Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming, Hasbro Pulse, and our licensing business, our Consumer Products business underperformed in the fourth quarter against the backdrop of a challenging holiday consumer environment," said Chris Cocks, Hasbro chief executive officer.

"We are focused on implementing transformational changes aimed at substantially reducing costs and increasing our growth rates and profitability. While the full-year 2022, and particularly the fourth quarter, represented a challenging moment for Hasbro, we are confident in our Blueprint 2.0 strategy, unveiled in October, which includes a focus on fewer, bigger brands; gaming; digital; and our rapidly growing direct to consumer and licensing businesses. Through this strategy, we are putting the consumer at the center of everything we do, and our Operational Excellence program is on track to drive significant cost savings across the business and improve our overall competitiveness. These strategic pillars helped to improve our results, particularly operating profit margin and revenue growth in key categories, in a challenging fourth quarter, and lay the groundwork for continued progress in 2023."

Read the full press release here.

Leadership and Organizational Changes

In October 2022, the Company announced a goal of delivering $250-300 million in annualized run-rate cost savings by year-end 2025. In alignment with this program’s objectives, the Company is undertaking organizational changes that will result in the elimination of approximately 1,000 positions from its global workforce this year, or approximately 15% of global full-time employees. The changes will include a new organizational model, commercial alignment, and leadership changes that the Company will discuss in more detail on its upcoming earnings conference call.

"The elimination of these positions will impact many loyal Hasbro employees, and we do not undertake this process lightly. However, the changes are necessary to return our business to a competitive, industry-leading position and to provide the foundation for future success," said Cocks.

As part of these organizational and commercial changes, Eric Nyman, president and chief operating officer, is departing Hasbro. At this time, the Consumer Products business will report directly to the CEO.

"We are grateful for Eric’s dedication to Hasbro over the last 18 years and the leadership he has provided. On behalf of everyone at Hasbro, we wish him well in his future endeavors," said Cocks.

It's unclear currently how this will impact the Star Wars segment at Hasbro and the team working on the collector focused Vintage Collection, Black Series and Retro Collection action figure lines. Thanks to Jeff M. for relaying this information to us.  Read the full press release here.