Big Setback for Hasbro?

[Mark]

http://www.hasbro.com/pl/page.recall_monsterrocket/dn/default.cfm

I wonder how this will affect the bottom line...and thus our favorite RPG?

 

[Ranger REG]

???

How is that water-propelled rocket recall going to affect RPG? It's not made by WotC, it's made by Hasbro's own factory.

That's like a recall of Pepsi cola products should affect the Pizza Hut restaurant chain. (Pizza Hut is a subsidiary of parent company, PepsiCo.)

 

[BlakeT]

Yea I second that, I don't see this having any impact at all on Hasbro as a company let alone Wizards as a subsidiary of it.

 

[Umbran]

I doubt this would be considered a big setback. Hasbro is huge. Are Super Soaker Rockets really enough of their sales to worry about?

 

[Mark]

First of all, it is a quarter million units that need to be removed from the market, replaced to anyone who desires replacement, and there are likely to be some lawsuits even with the recall. What do you figure will be the cost of that? How does that compare to one financial quarter's profit? How does it bode while moving into a holiday season? How does a setback of this size trickle down from the parent company to its subsidiaries, and do the less profitable subsidiaries tend to get hit hardest? I'm just asking the questions and curious who might have the answers...

(Please qualify your answers by giving us some idea of your basis for your answers, i.e. Are you a financial analyst? etc. Thanks.)

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

It will hurt. Just like all recalls do. But crying like Chicken Little that the sky is falling is a wee bit premature.

My credentials: I know more than you.

 

[Dire Bare]

First of all, it is a quarter million units that need to be removed from the market, replaced to anyone who desires replacement, and there are likely to be some lawsuits even with the recall. What do you figure will be the cost of that? How does that compare to one financial quarter's profit? How does it bode while moving into a holiday season? How does a setback of this size trickle down from the parent company to its subsidiaries, and do the less profitable subsidiaries tend to get hit hardest? I'm just asking the questions and curious who might have the answers...

(Please qualify your answers by giving us some idea of your basis for your answers, i.e. Are you a financial analyst? etc. Thanks.)

Ah, c'mon Mark, no worries mate! I'm certainly not a financial analyst or lawyer in the toy industry, but toy recalls happen all the time. This certainly isn't a good thing for Hasbro, but I doubt it will significantly even affect Hasbro's bottom line, much less WotC's. Time will tell I guess.

 

[KnowTheToe]

I believe this stuff can be covered or partially covered by insurance.

But I will bet my next paycheck that we will not see a gnomish water rocket of destruction on the next Revised PHB published equipment list.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Insurance? I'd be surprised. Large companies like Hasbro are so big that few will offer them products coverage. This is not covered by a standard occurrence policy or a typical BOP or property policy. In all likelihood they have a self-insured retention for a very large amount, probably several million. I can't see this qualifying for something under an umbrella either. The aforementioned potential lawsuits may be covered by their basic GL policy once the SIR is exhausted unless this toy line is specifically excluded. They probably have to eat quite a chunk of this one.

 

[Mark]

It will hurt. Just like all recalls do. But crying like Chicken Little that the sky is falling is a wee bit premature.

My credentials: I know more than you.

Now, now, now.... Let's not start slinging the names around. No "Chicken Little" here. Just asking questions and checking to see who on our boards has the actual credentials to give us an analysis. Everything is a matter of degrees and to say it will have no impact at all is just as bad as saying the sky is falling. It will undoubtably have some impact and there is almost no chance it will be the first step toward bankruptcy.

So, is there someone here who can look at this without the need to deride the curious and who can give us a real perspective of how this might effect Hasbro?