Hasbro has said it will lay off 15% of its workers in an effort to reduce expenses and “restore our business to a competitive, industry-leading position” despite acknowledging “excellent growth” across Wizards of the Coast, Digital Gaming, Hasbro Pulse, and its licensing business.
These layoffs, which are thought to be the result of Hasbro’s Consumer Products division underperforming during the holiday season, could affect up to 1,000 employees.
Chris Cocks, the chief executive officer of Hasbro, stated that the layoffs would enable the business to implement a “new organizational model, commercial alignment, and leadership changes,” beginning with the departure of Eric Nyman, president and chief operating officer of Hasbro.
Cocks congratulated Nyman for his tenure at the company in a statement posted on the Hasbro website, and the Consumer Products division will now be under his direct supervision.
Cocks asserts that he does not see the worker layoffs “lightly” but that they were required “to build the platform for future success” of the business:
Hasbro to cut about 1,000 jobs as revenue drops. Notable for those following the recent D&D Wizards of the Coast drama, that WotC (and digital gaming) is called out by Hasbro as a notable success of late ($339 million in revenue, up 22% year on year)https://t.co/kNdE8K1Js0
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) January 26, 2023
Many devoted Hasbro employees will be impacted by the removal of these roles. Thus Cocks emphasizes that this process is not taken lightly. “The adjustments, however, are required to put our company back in a competitive, industry-leading position and to lay the groundwork for future success.”
Wizards of the Coast won’t likely be affected by these layoffs given that the Consumer Products sector has underperformed, but it nonetheless concerns a corporation that has been dogged by scandal for a long. Due to community fatigue with Magic: The Gathering, it not only succeeded in lowering the value of its own stock, but Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts are still skeptical of its attempts to modify the Open Games License.
It serves as yet another reminder that Hasbro isn’t doing very well right now and that 1,000 employees have lost their jobs as a result of the company’s ongoing errors.
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