Hasbro to Lay Off 1,000 Staffers, 15 Percent of Workforce, Amid Cost-Savings Push - Hollywood Reporter
“We are focused on implementing transformational changes aimed at substantially reducing costs and increasing our growth rates and profitability,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said in a statement.
“While the full-year 2022, and particularly the fourth quarter, represented a challenging moment for Hasbro, we are confident in our Blueprint 2.0 strategy, unveiled in October, which includes a focus on fewer, bigger brands; gaming; digital; and our rapidly growing direct to consumer and licensing businesses.”In selling eOne, Hasbro articulated a strategy in which it leans into franchise brands like Transformers, Peppa Pig, and Dungeons & Dragons, including in entertainment, though it may do so without its in-house studio.Hasbro looked to the eOne deal in 2019 to make the toy maker into a media contender as it combined the indie studio’s film and TV unit with its own.Seeing off Alta Fox’s proxy battle challenge marked a victory for newly-installed CEO Cocks amid the toy maker’s drive towards becoming a gaming powerhouse.Following the death of CEO Brian Goldner, Cocks became the company’s top exec after serving as president and COO of the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming division.