[rumor, not fact!] Hasbro selling off WotC

[Adso]

Never trust a man with a hypenated last name.

Nice!

 

[Adso]

Just tried again and its working for me just fine. Maybe their server is busy from all the people checking to see if the latest announcement is up yet.

Huh. Strange, I am getting the same thing...I'll have to see what's up when I get to work this morning.

 

[Maggan]

OKay, now it's working... odd.

How long has WotC been using these inane slogans at the main wizards.com page? I never go to the main page, anymore.

A year? It's been a while, I'm not sure how long but it's no recent thing.

/M

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well I am the Hindenburg baby! Beat that!

Oh, the humanity.

Oh, the huge manatees!

 

[Midknightsun]

An invisible pink unicorn told me WotC doesn't exist.

 

[Mythmere1]

And even if you owned only a single share of Hasbro, you would have received a proxy vote. The only way the original rumor can be true now would be if the announcement is Company X has made an offer for the WotC IP and Hasbro has determined it is in the best interests of the shareholders to accept said offer pending approval of tha majority, at which time you'd receive your proxy.

That has happened before, but it would mean many many months before such an offer could even be formally accepted and even longer for such a sale to go through.

Given that, I very much doubt the veracity of the intiating rumor.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled speculation thread.

While I DOUBT DOUBT DOUBT the truth of the rumor ...

1) Shareholders only see what the corporation's lawyers deem "material information" about the parent company. I don't know what percentage of HASBRO's revenue Wizards accounts for, but companies can definitely sell off subsidiaries without a shareholder vote and without even telling shareholders.

2) Even for a material transaction, the point at which disclosure is necessary depends upon how likely the transaction is to actually close (finish successfully). Often, the trigger point is a letter of intent, a non-binding statement of agreement to do the transaction. These are often almost as detailed as the final contract (if you want to conceal the transaction) or very vague (if you want to trumpet it immediately).

3) If would certainly be possible that a sale of WOTC could follow the pattern of vague rumors followed by a surprise announcement. Don't look for it until a product line or subsidiary's return on investment begins to stagnate. A publicly-traded company sells off assets when the cash from the sale could be applied more profitably if it were used to support more profitable product lines.

 

[Eldragon]

Ok, cats out of the bag. I am buying D&D from Hasbro. In 2 years a new edition will come out which fixes all of my pet peeves with the rules.

-- Richard Rich III.

 

[irdeggman]

And what really happened to Harry Potter was. . . . .

 

[Solice]

An invisible pink unicorn told me WotC doesn't exist.

*Puts the unicorn back into the stables*

Nevermind him, he's just pissy ever since we locked him away for supporting silly unfounded rumors.

No, WotC is not being sold.

 

[Mercule]

Will WotC be sold on ebay?

Just Scott Rouse's kidneys.