D&D General Hasbro activist begins proxy fight, urges Dungeons & Dragons spinoff

[Parmandur]

Strengthen Hasbro

freethewizards.com

Activists explaining their case.

Um, wow, being angry Magic players seems to be at the core of this, under the "Players" option from the hamburger menu:

"Alta Fox’s commitment to our investment in Hasbro is unique in more ways than one: we are also players of Magic: The Gathering (“MTG”), have participated in recent Arena opens and are acutely aware of customers’ collective frustrations with Wizards under Hasbro’s current model."

And they cite a video from "The Professor" as evidence of Hasbro issues!

This is some high level needed.

I really like the Brand strategy, so I hope this effort crashes and burns. And I don't rust the slick presentation, neither.

 

[Umbran]

Strengthen Hasbro

freethewizards.com

Activists explaining their case.

The idea that whoever they are nominating for the board is "independent" is pretty laughable, I'm sorry to say.

Using performance for the last 12 months is also highly questionable. The covid epidemic has been a special period, and while it would be great if WotC were to perform similarly in the future, anyone making major long-term financial decisions based on such an assumption is taking a heck of a risk.

A sale of WoTC on its own could generate $13 billion. That’s why they are being urged to sell. That’s a lot of money.

They aren't being urged to sell. They are urged to spin it off into a new company, the stock of which would be held by current Hasbro shareholders.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Um, wow, being angry Magic players seems to be at the core of this, under the "Players" option from the hamburger menu:

"Alta Fox’s commitment to our investment in Hasbro is unique in more ways than one: we are also players of Magic: The Gathering (“MTG”), have participated in recent Arena opens and are acutely aware of customers’ collective frustrations with Wizards under Hasbro’s current model."

And they cite a video from "The Professor" as evidence of Hasbro issues!

This is some high level needed.

I really like the Brand strategy, so I hope this effort crashes and burns. And I don't rust the slick presentation, neither.

I also like the brand strategy and believe that this group are looking for a quick buck but I have no horse in the race other than a customer and as a customer I feel no obligation to take sides in a stockholders bunfight.

 

[HammerMan]

I am dumb... real dumb when it comes to things like this... but I can't imagine how either way is a boon for us end users. So I guess I will follow this with 'eh mild' interest

 

[Jer]

Would this be good for gamers, since Wizards would be free to focus on D&D and Magic, or is there something I'm missing?

I suspect this would NOT be good for gamers. Mostly because when the shareholders decide that they know how to run a company better than the folks running it and they're going to dictate strategy to them ... it historically doesn't go well in the long term. Usually the shareholders make a lot of money but leave the rotting corpse of a company behind.

Whether that corpse in this case would be Hasbro or Wizards is a coinflip.

In my cynicism I suspect that a spin-off would end up with either Wizards eventually re-acquiring Hasbro or with Wizards crashing and burning due to mismangement.

 

[Divine2021]

I suspect this would NOT be good for gamers. Mostly because when the shareholders decide that they know how to run a company better than the folks running it and they're going to dictate strategy to them ... it historically doesn't go well in the long term. Usually the shareholders make a lot of money but leave the rotting corpse of a company behind.

Whether that corpse in this case would be Hasbro or Wizards is a coinflip.

In my cynicism I suspect that a spin-off would end up with either Wizards eventually re-acquiring Hasbro or with Wizards crashing and burning due to mismangement.

I mean, the idea that shareholders aren’t calling the shots for WoTC now is a bit misguided. D&D and Mtg are completely corporate now. That’s pretty undeniable.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I suspect this would NOT be good for gamers. Mostly because when the shareholders decide that they know how to run a company better than the folks running it and they're going to dictate strategy to them ... it historically doesn't go well in the long term. Usually the shareholders make a lot of money but leave the rotting corpse of a company behind.

Whether that corpse in this case would be Hasbro or Wizards is a coinflip.

In my cynicism I suspect that a spin-off would end up with either Wizards eventually re-acquiring Hasbro or with Wizards crashing and burning due to mismangement.

What would the short and long term effect of WotC collapsing be for the tabletop RPG industry? DnD 5e is so overwhelmingly popular compared to any of its competitors that I can't picture anything being able to fill that void very fast, if at all.

 

[Parmandur]

Whether that corpse in this case would be Hasbro or Wizards is a coinflip.

Why not both...?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Why would Hasbro spin off a cash cow?

Because you can load up on debt (including due to the payouts to the financial engineers involved) and then leave all the debt in the old company, with all the assets in the spin-off, then let the old company die while the new company soars in valuation.

 

[Umbran]

I mean, the idea that shareholders aren’t calling the shots for WoTC now is a bit misguided. D&D and Mtg are completely corporate now. That’s pretty undeniable.

So, there's a huuuge difference between "being corporate" and "shareholders calling the shots."

Shareholders are generally pretty quiet about corporate strategy. Typically, the shots are called by the executive board, not directly by the shareholders.