Hasbro CEO Comments On Upcoming Layoffs

Hasbro recently had their third-quarter earnings report, and while they wouldn’t go into too much detail about their upcoming layoffs, they did at least shed a bit more light on what their ‘organizational change’ really means.

Hasbro reported that they were down from their 2017 totals, as for the third quarter of 2018 as the $1.57 billion they pulled in this year is down 12% from the $1.79 billion they brought in 2017. During the conference call CEO Brian Goldner was also asked about the organizational changes that have been rumored, and he stressed that they are small and are needed to evolve the company (via Seeking Alpha).

“So, the organizational changes in total represented a mid single-digit percentage of our global workforce,” Goldner said. The changes were global in nature, really about as I indicated earlier, ensuring that we’re able to continue to evolve the organization. We saw an opportunity to step change the evolution, to move more quickly. We have some incredible leadership across all the disciplines that I noted. And certainly, as we continue to change the nature of our business, where we’re selling product, how we’re selling product, the changes to the organization are reflected in that.”

“We continue to make meaningful organizational changes to ensure we have the right teams in place with the right capabilities to lead Hasbro into the future,” Goldner said. “Global retailers have ambitious programs this holiday season and we have innovative brand offerings across the portfolio, including programs behind our feature TRANSFORMERS film, Bumblebee, set for release this holiday season. Our long-term commitment to building capabilities around our Brand Blueprint coupled with industry-leading investment in innovation positions us for a successful holiday season and beyond.”

Goldner also touched on the effects that Toys “R” Us had on them this year.

“The global Hasbro team is effectively managing our business forward through a very disruptive year,” Goldner said. “The lost Toys “R” Us revenues are impacting many markets around the world, notably the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia. The volume of product liquidated in the second quarter had a near-term impact on the third quarter sell through and shipments. We are successfully managing retail inventory and it is down significantly in the U.S. and in Europe, where we are aggressively working to clear excess inventory by year end. A growing array of retailers are now ramping new programs to take share this holiday season and we are well positioned to meet their demand.”

We’ll keep you updated as we know more.