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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Krug" data-source="post: 242810" data-attributes="member: 2141">Hasbro jettisoning D&D? More likely than you might think<a href="http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/stocks/timarango/10026106.html" target="_blank">http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/stocks/timarango/10026106.html</a>Hasbro bought Wizards in 1999 for an initial payment of $325 million. Subsequent payments have brought the total up to about $500 million, according to regulatory filings. Hasbro does not break out Wizards' financials, but analysts estimate it accounted for between 5% and 10% of the company's $2.9 billion in annual revenue. But in the past Wizards has been a much larger contributor, it appears from nuggets in company filings with the SEC. For example, the company disclosed that in 2000 Wizards' line of Pokemon trading cards alone accounted for 15% of the company's $3.8 billion in revenue. The wane in popularity of Pokemon cards was blamed, in part, for the decline in Hasbro's revenue in 2001. Honestly I think Hasbro will divest itself of D&D eventually. 10% of $2.9 bil is about $290 mil, and a profit of $60 mil in 2001. It's hard to gauge D&D's popularity, but right now after putting out the core 3E rulebooks and the splatbooks, sales of D&D and related products are probably dwindling; maybe accounting for $100 mil of that revenue in 2001 or 2-3%? Furthermore, Every new D&D item put out by WotC noew is MORE narrow in scope and outlook, meaning less buyers and less revenue. Then there's OGL? What? Letting other people use Hasbro's intellectual property? If you're a suit I doubt if you'd be happy with that.Furthermore, how many CEOs or directors understand D&D or RPGs? Hasbro bought WotC for Pokemon and MtG. D&D seems more like luggage; the mole on the beauty's kisser. There's also D&D's PR problem which, folks, is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Frankly, I think that it's so much trouble that they would just jettison the whole unit. Even if it were profitable, D&D might be too much trouble and Hasbro's looking for the longball All-Star, not the single bases hitter.My 2 cents.</blockquote>

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