Potential Hasbro and Mattel Merger?

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According to a report today from Bloomberg Business, Hasbro (owners of the Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering brands) and Mattel have been in talks about a possible merger. The talks started in 2015, and were instigated by Hasbro.
The article listed the net worth and stock values of the two companies: "Mattel shares rose 1.7 percent to $32.29 at 4:26 p.m. in New York, valuing the company at about $11 billion and extending a streak that has seen the stock gain 19 percent this year. Hasbro rose 1.3 percent to $75.96 after climbing as high as $78.45, valuing the company at about $9.5 billion." Bloomberg experts say that a merger would allow for a stronger competition against Denmark's LEGO.

This isn't the first time that the two companies have talked about a merger.

The important question for tabletop gamers, should the merger go through, is how would the Wizards of the Coast​ division fare in all of this?

 

[Morrus]

But both Hasbro and Mattel have no standing in those departments anyway, Battleship was a horrible failure and should really teach everyone a lesson about turning board games into movie. You can't be "more competitive" in an area that you are completely non-competitive. Mattel has several direct-to-video properties based off their doll-lines as well as similarly-based video games, but nothing spectacular.

So it begs the question: how is a Mattel-Hasbro merger going to improve their ability to compete in markets they have done almost nothing with?

At the end of the day, LEGO's success is on the fact that is has a product without needing trademarks. Hasbro and Mattel do not. So it's likely that Hasbro and Mattel simply have to spend big bucks to get Star Wars, Avengers, and so forth, otherwise they have nothing to sell.


But that doesn't change the product. Okay, they've got a video-game. It relies heavily on trademarks established by someone else (Star Wars, Marvel, LOTR, etc..). Hasbro relies heavily on the same trademarks. So LEGO has a video game that makes up a tiny fraction of the video-game market.

My point remains: Hasbro and Mattel aren't competing in these markets. So how can they get better at something they don't do by working together?

I don't really know where you're going; I was just answering your question. You said LEGO was niche and asked what else they did. I (and others) told you. I don't really have any other input into the discussion than to provide the information you asked for.

 

[darjr]

If LEGO is niche than so is Exxon.

 

[Dahak]

They don't produce half the types of products that Hasbro and Mattel have, and neither of those companies produce anything in the same style of what are essentially overblown puzzle toys as LEGO.

Uhh...
Kre-O?

 

[mflayermonk]

Bandai is a large toy company as well.

 

[EbbTide808]

At last: the realization of the My Little Pony RPG is at hand!!!

Edit: Well damn, I thought My Little Pony was a property of Mattel, not Hasbro. Humor fail.

 

[Will Doyle]

But both Hasbro and Mattel have no standing in those departments anyway, Battleship was a horrible failure and should really teach everyone a lesson about turning board games into movie. You can't be "more competitive" in an area that you are completely non-competitive.

Hasbro has a huge stake in cinema. Outside of Japan, Hasbro owns Transformers. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the 12th highest-grossing film of all time.

 

[Sunseeker]

Hasbro has a huge stake in cinema. Outside of Japan, Hasbro owns Transformers. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the 12th highest-grossing film of all time.

Good point, I forgot that was a toy movie that Hasbro owned, I'm so used to importing my Takara-formers!

 

[Koloth]

Hasbro has a huge stake in cinema. Outside of Japan, Hasbro owns Transformers. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the 12th highest-grossing film of all time.

So Transformer Barbie isn't out of the question? Or a "Transformer Barbie Meets the Dungeon Master" movie?

 

[WackyAnne]

D&D Barbie anyone?

My thoughts exactly!

I shudder to think what that might look like, though...

 

[Remathilis]

My thoughts exactly!

I shudder to think what that might look like, though...

I'm sure a Google image search for Dungeon Barbie would provide results, but none of them would be grandma friendly...