WotC Filing: Wizards of the Coast makes up roughly 70% of Hasbro's value

[MGibster]

There is also a thing called a business judgment rule, which means that if investors take the board to court to say that instead of doing A, the board should be doing B, the court will throw up its hands and say “damned if I know” and punt the whole thing back to the board.

And for those that don't know, the business judgment rule is the principal that that default assumption is that management is acting in the interest of the corporation and its investors. It's to prevent frivolous lawsuits from investors based on corporate officers not making optimal decisions.

Regarding investors and shareholders and the dividends paid to them, I've always viewed shareholders as the economic equivalent of the energy lost to heat and entropy in a mechanical system. Something that takes energy (or in this case, money) out of the system and makes it run less smoothky but which can;t be fully abrogated and must instead be minimized

Investment is usually good for a company in that it provides them with capital and it benefits the investor not only because of dividends but also because it mitigates some of the risks associated with running a business . The problem isn't your typical investor, who is usually content to let their stock sit for long periods of time generating dividends, it's when you have groups dedicating to gaming the system encouraging short term gains at the expense of the long term health of the company.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The Kevin Smith version was good. It was just too adult for the kids, and too modern for the more conservative grognards. Which is why it would be a mistake for WotC to target an adult audience with it's D&D cartoon.

I'm neither of those groups and it looked awful and all reviews were it was bad.

 

[Jer]

Regarding investors and shareholders and the dividends paid to them, I've always viewed shareholders as the economic equivalent of the energy lost to heat and entropy in a mechanical system. Something that takes energy (or in this case, money) out of the system and makes it run less smoothky but which can;t be fully abrogated and must instead be minimized

The share that investors take through dividends isn't usually the problem (occasionally dividends become an issue on corporate finances, but it's rare). Investors who would be happy to get a reasonable return on their investment over the long term via a dividend payout are the perfect investors - they front the money and get their money back with interest over the long term. They're also as rare as ... not unicorns but maybe a red wolf or a California condor - not extinct but endangered.

It's the investors who want a quick return on investment through the sale of stock that cause things to move less smoothly. Especially when they want the company to do things that are harmful to it in the long term so they can make a quick buck in the short term and they have enough power to force the company to do it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Could we see a comic "G.I.Joe vs Terminator" or "G.I.Joe vs Aliens vs Predators"?

Other point is if a third party wanted the WotC's IPs but Hasbro doesn't accept a merger neither an acquisition then to try a spin-off would be a possible strategy.

* What about the videogame Dark Alliance, is it a hit or a bomb?

* Shouldn't hire WotC more people to publish more titles, or to work in any no-D&D TTRPG?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The share that investors take through dividends isn't usually the problem (occasionally dividends become an issue on corporate finances, but it's rare). Investors who would be happy to get a reasonable return on their investment over the long term via a dividend payout are the perfect investors - they front the money and get their money back with interest over the long term. They're also as rare as ... not unicorns but maybe a red wolf or a California condor - not extinct but endangered.

It's the investors who want a quick return on investment through the sale of stock that cause things to move less smoothly. Especially when they want the company to do things that are harmful to it in the long term so they can make a quick buck in the short term and they have enough power to force the company to do it.

Look at the P/E ratio of basically all stocks that are even close to investment grade today. They are all MANY MANY multiples of anything that would allow someone to come out ahead by buying equities for the dividends. There is literally not one single stock on the NASDAQ or NYSE that isn't toxic, or a penny stock, that will return you even 2% that way. Thus we must conclude ALL INVESTORS today are speculators. Many may be 'bad' speculators who are clueless and just hold things, what we call 'dumb money', but they're still speculating! If you want to earn dividends, you are 100x better off buying a Money Market fund, and 1000x better off investing in something like Munis, since they will return 3x more than ANY dividends, even of hugely successful companies.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Look at the P/E ratio of basically all stocks that are even close to investment grade today. They are all MANY MANY multiples of anything that would allow someone to come out ahead by buying equities for the dividends. There is literally not one single stock on the NASDAQ or NYSE that isn't toxic, or a penny stock, that will return you even 2% that way. Thus we must conclude ALL INVESTORS today are speculators. Many may be 'bad' speculators who are clueless and just hold things, what we call 'dumb money', but they're still speculating! If you want to earn dividends, you are 100x better off buying a Money Market fund, and 1000x better off investing in something like Munis, since they will return 3x more than ANY dividends, even of hugely successful companies.

Totally agree and I suspect that there is an element of the Stars Aligned about it. I think it is partly a product of deregulation and financial engineering. Partly globalisation with a considerable helping of being ignored by Central Banks because of a belief that asset price inflation is not a problem.

It is sustainable up until the point where it is not and then your guess is as good as mine. Between climate change, aging demographics and later crashing populations, I suspect the ride is going to get bumpy.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Totally agree and I suspect that there is an element of the Stars Aligned about it. I think it is partly a product of deregulation and financial engineering. Partly globalisation with a considerable helping of being ignored by Central Banks because of a belief that asset price inflation is not a problem.

It is sustainable up until the point where it is not and then your guess is as good as mine. Between climate change, aging demographics and later crashing populations, I suspect the ride is going to get bumpy.

Yup! The stock market is a gargantuan Ponzi, and at some point it will burst. The reason it hasn't so far is that the govt keeps printing more money, which then has to go SOMEWHERE, and it goes on and on. Notice that the actual good investments, those are either things like real estate, or else private equity (which normal people are simply not invited to participate in). The 'bursting of the bubble' may take some quite creative new form that partially obscures exactly what happened, but the upshot will be that all the so-called 'equity' that is really unrealized gains will become non-fungible. Heck, it may even still earn dividends, at the current 50:1 (if you are lucky) P/Es that's a joke of course. What you won't be able to do is access the principle, it won't really exist anymore.

Honestly, at this point, and I've been a very successful investor in a variety of instruments and whatnot in the past, 90% of my money is in equity in real estate at this point. It is a FANTASTIC time to be in debt too! And this may well be the understanding of anyone trying to raid a company like Hasbro. Load it up with debt, take the actual money off to someplace safe, and hope that super high inflation just lets them go along like that for a few years until you're well and truly far gone with the loot.

 

[bedir than]

* Shouldn't hire WotC more people to publish more titles, or to work in any no-D&D TTRPG?

They've dramatically expanded staffing over the past two years, have a new co-HQ about 10 miles away from the Renton location, and have upped their production cycle of D&D and video games.

 

[Scribe]

That reminds it's been brought to my attention by someone that the Warhammer Commander Decks might be be a test to see if WotC can sell Warhammer products ahead of a possible purchase of Games Workshop itself by WotC.

I would literally puke.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

WotC buying GW would be terrible. This industry needs more big, sustainable companies, not fewer.