Hasbro laying off 1,100 workers as weak toy sales persist into holiday season

[MichMan]

Hasbro had about 6,300 employees as of earlier this year, according to a company fact sheet.

“We anticipated the first three quarters to be challenging, particularly in Toys, where the market is coming off historic, pandemic-driven highs,” CEO Chris Cocks said in the memo. “While we have made some important progress across our organization, the headwinds we saw through the first nine months of the year have continued into Holiday and are likely to persist into 2024.

Hasbro, which already laid off hundreds of employees earlier this year, had warned in October that trouble was on the horizon. In the company’s most recent quarterly earnings report, Hasbro slashed its already-soft full-year outlook, projecting a 13% to 15% revenue decline for the year.

Popular toy brand sales had dropped significantly, Hasbro also said in the October quarterly report. Popular brands like My Little Pony, Nerf and Transformer had fallen 18% at the time, due to “softer category trends.”

[link:https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/hasbro-laying-off-1-100-workers-as-weak-toy-sales-persist-into-holiday-season/ar-AA1llMHz?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=232999f544b1454b94d1e026ccf5ad7c&ei=17|

[honest.abe]

1. Not surprised. I get the feeling this Christmas season is going to be below typical.

The malls here in the DC area are not as busy as what I have seen in the past few years. I believe people are starting to cut back.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. From Statista

Holiday promotions

In the past few years, holiday retail sales in the United States have skyrocketed. In 2023, U.S. holiday retail sales figures reached just over 950 billion U.S. dollars, which was an increase of some 20 billion just compared to the year before. Nov 29, 2023

And these data are as of 12 days ago.

[honest.abe]

5. Let's see if it continues.

Thanks.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Sure

Now for a pinch of analysis. It's the only honest thing to do. (See what I did there? :chuckle
That increase is only a little over 2%, and prices are 3.8-4.0% higher.
So, this might be a couple percent decline in goods, but an increase is spending.
That extra month might make a difference. We shall see, I guess.

[llmart]

2. Kids don't play with toys that much these days.

By the time they're two, they have their own I-pads and are too busy staring at them. Either that or they get so many toys throughout the year that at Christmas no one knows what to buy them since they have everything already.

I'm only half kidding.

[sakabatou]

3. Now watch as Hasbro affiliated TV shows get cancelled