MAT bidding for Hasbro??

[somekindofjerk]

Let some gamer who cares about D&D buy and run the D&D properties, not some corporate suit.

Paul Allen, if you lurk on these board this is your cue. Come on, you could Wizards in between Kirk's captain chair and Afrika Bombada's cape and cane. Or on a boat and hitch it to your amazing mobile helipad. C'mon.

 

[William Ronald]

I find the reports about Mattel interesting, but WotC is a very small part of Hasbro -- and the roleplaying line is a smaller part still. To me, what matters is that people who love gaming run WotC. Part of me thinks WotC might get better marketing as an independent company. Although the Dungeons and Dragons name is one of the best known brands on the planet, there has been little marketing of it by Hasbro.

Possibly Mattel might want to sell any lines that were not considered part of a core business model. However, someone would be willing to buy WotC as the roleplaing games, books, and card games are still profitable.

Perhaps the question should be if Mattel buys Hasbro and sells WotC, who should buy the company. My hope would be that it would be someone with an understanding of the company, our hobby, an appreciation for the customers, and with great skill in running a business. (Can someone link Ryan Dancey's excellent essay on why TSR failed?)

Several of the publishers whom I have seen on these boards could probably run WotC well, based on their success at their own companies. However, I imagine that the cost of buying WotC might require some companies to pool their financial resources.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Although I agree that high-level executives can be surprisingly clueless about their own product lines, I would be shocked if Mattel were not at least aware that Hasbro owns the D&D brand. As stated before, it an established (30+ years) brand with strong recognition in its segment (i.e., us). Thus D&D as a brand has value aside from whatever revenue is directly generated by D&D as a product.

Being that Matel and Hasbro are the number one and number two toy makers in the world, respectively, who is number three, how far back are they now of Hasbro, and how far back would they be as number two if Matel bought Hasbro?

According to Yahoo! Finance, the Toys & Games sector is completely dominated by Mattell ($7.6B mkt cap), followed by Hasbro ($3.7B), and trailed a long way off by Leapfrog ($0.7B), Jakks Pacific ($0.5B), and Topps ($0.4B).

Note that there are some privately held companies (like the makers of Lego) that do not show up in these sorts of financial indicators.

 

[francisca]

My first thoughts exactly. Let some gamer who cares about D&D buy and run the D&D properties, not some corporate suit. Then again, maybe it's just my general distaste for anything "marketing"-esque.

'cuz gamers make the best CEOs.....

 

[Sholari]

You honestly think it's possible to rise to a position of significance within a company like Mattel or Hasbro without knowing every revenue stream available to the company, no matter how small?

(Not that D&D is small.)

Yes, you just need to focus on your major streams of profit and revenue, and hold accountable the people who are managing the rest. Hopefully, the senior manager would have a good understanding of the different parts of their company, however, very frequently that is not necessarilly the case.

 

[the black knight]

Color me apathetic. Why? Because even if WoTC went belly-up tomorrow, I'd still have enough gaming stuff to last me a lifetime. And, as defined by the OGL, d20 publishers can continue to make product long after WoTC bites the dust.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting the most out of my 3e/3.5 books, either.

 

[the black knight]

I find the reports about Mattel interesting, but WotC is a very small part of Hasbro -- and the roleplaying line is a smaller part still. To me, what matters is that people who love gaming run WotC. Part of me thinks WotC might get better marketing as an independent company. Although the Dungeons and Dragons name is one of the best known brands on the planet, there has been little marketing of it by Hasbro.

Possibly Mattel might want to sell any lines that were not considered part of a core business model. However, someone would be willing to buy WotC as the roleplaing games, books, and card games are still profitable.

Perhaps the question should be if Mattel buys Hasbro and sells WotC, who should buy the company. My hope would be that it would be someone with an understanding of the company, our hobby, an appreciation for the customers, and with great skill in running a business. (Can someone link Ryan Dancey's excellent essay on why TSR failed?)

Several of the publishers whom I have seen on these boards could probably run WotC well, based on their success at their own companies. However, I imagine that the cost of buying WotC might require some companies to pool their financial resources.

I would happily buy it. Now where did I put that 50 million?

 

[Desdichado]

Where can I read more info about this supposed deal under investigation? I can't find any hint of it searching either HAS or MAT.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Where can I read more info about this supposed deal under investigation? I can't find any hint of it searching either HAS or MAT.

HAS or MAT

HASMAT

HAZMAT

=

teh funny

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Yes, you just need to focus on your major streams of profit and revenue, and hold accountable the people who are managing the rest. Hopefully, the senior manager would have a good understanding of the different parts of their company, however, very frequently that is not necessarilly the case.

That's not the same thing as having never heard of the brand. The assertion is ridiculous.