D&D General Elon Musk Wants To Know 'How Much Is Hasbro?'

Following the richest man in the world's attack on Wizards of the Coast for two paragraphs in the 500-page celebration of D&D, The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977, Elon Musk--who bought Twitter not that long ago--wants to know how much D&D's owner Hasbro would cost.

After the public sharing on Twitter of Jason Tondro's (who wrote the book’s foreword) private Facebook posts, Musk replied "How much is Hasbro?"

Hasbro's estimated capitalization is currently $8.71 billion, with $3.95 billion of debt.

It was on 21st December 2017 when Musk similarly enquired "How much is it?" before proceeding to make a bid for Twitter. He later tried to back out of the deal, but was forced to buy the platform for $44 billion in June 2022. Current estimates by investment firm Fidelity put the platform at a value 80% less than when he bought it, with a worth of only about $9.4 billion.

 

[mamba]

Someone already been pointed out, the company can just start issuing the stock they've been sitting on to stop such a tactic from succeeding.

yes, and that someone has no idea what they are talking about. Issuing stock is not like printing money, it does not make the company more valuable, it just spreads the same 9B over more shares, it will make no difference

The $100 was for shares at $65, for shares around $22 it will be $33. It will also take Hasbro more than 10 days to issue those shares in the first place

 

[Parmandur]

how many shares there are makes little difference…

1) it does not increase the company’s value, so if there are 3 times the shares, each share is worth 1/3 of their current value

2) when new shares get issued they are pro-rated to owners of the current shares, so in this case anyone owning one share would get two more

Notice how even after the split Musk would still own half the company and shares, and his shares would still be worth $4.5B, so nothing at all changed from issuing more shares

You seem to be conflating issuing new shares with stock splitting: the board of Hasbro is able to issue a lot of new stock specifically to prevent a buy out.

 

[mamba]

You seem to be conflating issuing new shares with stock splitting: the board of Hasbro is able to issue a lot of new stock specifically to prevent a buy out.

explain the difference… Hasbro is worth $9B, tripling the number of shares does not increase its value to $27B

I just googled it and still see no difference

“

Difference Between Bonus Issue and Stock Split​

Companies have different ways to reward their shareholders. The reward can either be given in the form of dividends or extra shares. Bonus issue and stock split are two of them.

What is a Bonus Issue?​

A bonus issue is when existing shareholders get extra shares in a certain proportion. For example, if a 4:1 bonus issue is announced, shareholders will receive four shares for every one share they hold. So if an investor holds 10 shares of a certain company, the investor will get 40 (4*10) shares in total.

What is a Stock Split?​

A stock split is when the number of shares gets multiplied. There is a ‘split’ in the number of shares held. Technically no new shares are being issued by the company. The existing number of shares are being divided or split. Say a company announces a stock split in the 1:2 ratio. It means for every 1 share held, it will become 2 shares, for every 100 shares held, the share count will become 200 shares.”

Seems to be more a technicality than anything

 

[Parmandur]

yes, and that someone has no idea what they are talking about. Issuing stock is not like printing money, it does not make the company more valuable, it just spreads the same 9B over more shares, it will make no difference

Nobody said it made the company more valuable, the point is thst the board can change who has 51% of the company by issuing new stocks. So Musk cannot take control of the company by juat paying for half the value.

 

[Parmandur]

explain the difference… Hasbro is worth $9B, tripling the number of shares does not increase its value to $27B

Splitting means every current owner of one share gets it split into three. Issuing new stock means that the board can dilute the stock and issue it to new holders (say, signing bonuses for new employees). They are preauthorized to issue more than twice as many stocks as are on the market now...ao that anyone who tries to go out and buy control can be undermined.

 

[mamba]

Nobody said it made the company more valuable, the point is thst the board can change who has 51% of the company by issuing new stocks. So Musk cannot take control of the company by juat paying for half the value.

the new stocks go to the owners of the existing stocks, so yes, he buys half the stocks, end of story

 

[Parmandur]

the new stocks go to the owners of the existing stocks, so yes, he buys half the stocks, end of story

No, they don't, that'sa split, a different thing: the board has control here and can issue a lot of new stock. This is specifically so that a hostile takeover is not possible. Musk can go out and offer to buy out 51% of outstanding stock, but the board can dilute his portion by issuing to people who won't sell to him. The only method to buy Hasbro is to make a board approved offer: a board with people who do not like Musk personally, and know that he will run riot in the company.

 

[mamba]

Splitting means every current owner of one share gets it split into three.

with you so far

Issuing new stock means that the board can dilute the stock and issue it to new holders (say, signing bonuses for new employees).

that would be ‘stealing’ money from the current owners and giving it to the new employees

They are preauthorized to issue more than twice as many stocks as are on the market now...ao that anyone who tries to go out and buy control can be undermined.

I doubt the current owners are ok with over 2/3s of their investment being taken away and handed to some ‘random’ people, which is what you are describing. That is not what is authorized I assume… usually the newly issued stock goes to the current stock holders, precisely for that reason, and I assume that is what is authorized

 

[mamba]

No, they don't, that'sa split, a different thing: the board has control here and can issue a lot of new stock. This is specifically so that a hostile takeover is not possible

I’d like to see the wording of that, because that does mean the investors are ok with 2/3s of their investment being taken away and given to some ‘random’ other people

 

[Parmandur]

I’d like to see the wording of that, because that does mean the investors are ok with 2/3s of their investment being taken away and given to some ‘random’ other people

Just going off what was reported, and itnseems to match what I'm finding from reports about Alta Fox's failed hostile takeover. The point is to provide a nuclear option to prevent the company from being taken over by unstable outsiders with money to burn (though, again, he does not have "money" as such).