Hasbro has ended talks with DreamWorks Animation regarding their potential merger. It is said that a sudden drop of Market Share after the rumor has scared the Transformers Toy Maker to say “No” to the proposed merger. Disney; who roughly own 30% of Hasbro’s business, also expressed a negative reaction to the deal.
“The breakup of the negotiations followed a sharp slide in Hasbro‘s shares after reports of the talks emerged late Wednesday. The toy maker’s shares had fallen nearly 5 percent since then, closing on Friday at $54.02. The fall in Hasbro’s share price was notable because the company had weighed paying both stock and cash, people briefed on the matter have said.
Also playing a role was a negative private reaction by the Walt Disney Company, which comprises roughly 30 percent of Hasbro’s business through licenses for “Star Wars,” Marvel characters, “Frozen” and the Disney Princesses toy line.
Disney was predictably upset that Hasbro would discuss a merger with DreamWorks Animation — its primary cartoon competitor — only weeks after the toy maker was given a lucrative Princesses contract, having taken it away from Mattel, one of these people said. As a toy partner, Hasbro receives early access to private information about films in Disney’s pipeline.”
Gepard
One wonders how Goldner could have been so stupid as to not see Disney's reaction coming.
Autovolt 127
Well this sucks.
*reads the comment section*
I shouldn't have done that. :/
Shockwave260
Sounds like the talks were sabotaged rather than just dropped. Interesting, very interesting…
DreamWorks Animation Deal Talks Sabotaged by Anonymous Letter
Afterburner
Hasbro has learned the licensing lesson before, in 1999 with The Phantom Menace. However, pop culture is a bit different today…nonetheless they still try to focus on in-house brands like TF and G.I.Joe but they don't have a lot beyond 5 or 6 main brands and not all of them lend themselves to entertainment beyond toys (see Battleship, Ouija). Hasbro's problem isn't so much that they don't focus on their brands – it is that they haven't come up with a new brand with popularity and staying power in a long time. For a company that likes to think it is very creative they are oftentimes the opposite.
Rebooting TF every year starting with the Unicron Trilogy was a sign they lack the ability to come up with new ideas that work – so just start over and rape your established brands. They may very well be running out of steam on that idea – and now what?
Looking more and more likely their future will depend on the Asian marketplace. If that turns against them, all bets are off.
flatline72
I totally agree,
Hasbro paid BIG MONEY to extend the Star Wars contract allowing hasbro to manufacture star wars toys thru the next trilogy of planned movies….
And it was not cheap.
They also paid BIG MONEY for making Marvel toys….
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Main excerpt from the linked article….
illiniguy34
I honestly don't think that will happen and don't want that to happen, mostly because I am not a big fan of Dreamworks. But hey, that's just me.
crewboy7
Disney/Hasbro merger when?
I want my Mavel/Transformer crossover already!
Autovolt 127
Except for the fact that Cartoon Network usually sabotages a lot of WB's shows most of the time, yeah I'd love some Transformers animated movies in the DC Animated movie styles. Last Stand of the Wreckers would be perfect.
zachprime86
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrle0x_DHBM&list=UU72IXi6wx33LdltVkdwtLpw
Autobot Dave
Everyone always likes to say how infallible Hasbro is. The fact they own, and are licensed, many brands everyone has heard of and STILL aren't in the Fortune 500 – not to mention the fact they even considered this deal – shows quite the opposite.
A smart business doesn't rely on licensing for such a high percentage of their sales. And when they DO rely on it, they don't flip off the company responsible for that high percentage. Disney's in the Fortune 100. They don't need Hasbro – Hasbro needs them. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Disney pulled a lot of contracts when they're up.
I can't say it enough: successful businesses are successful because their brands are insanely focused. Hasbro's smart play is to really focus on their in-house brands, because you never know what's gonna happen.
Here's hoping they realize ithat sooner, rather than later.
Have fun, all!
Ash from Carolina
Know how does seem to be the biggest thing holding Hasbro entertainment back at this point.
It's a bit like the early days of Marvel getting into the movie business where they wanted in badly but really didn't know how to make the jump from comic books to live action movies. So titles got rented out to places until Marvel could get their own movie game into place.
Hasbro has the pop culture names, it just seems like they can't figure out how to cash in those names into something really successful. My Little Pony and the live action Transformers films kind of feel like accidents that worked out rather than solid plans for success. While Transformers did well at the box office GI Joe has been a mild disappointment and Battleship was a bomb.
rework
As a long time Hasbro stockholder, I'm glad this is dead. I can't see any way this would have happened without destroying the working relationship between Hasbro and Disney. And since Disney now owns Star Wars, there is no way that should be allowed to happen.
YoungPrime
So much for making REAL Shrek-formers….
TF Prime wins.
Dinocon93
Hasbro needs to pull their heads out of their ass and make a CG animated Beast Wars film. Speaking of wich they also need to do something for 2016 since it wil be the 20th anniverseary of the series, maybe like a generations line dedicated to beast era figures. Im tired of the failed G1 bias thats pretty much "Transformers: Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and other characters that look nothing like the originals"
Oh and of course their gonna do a MLP movie for the fucking Brony fanservice
Afterburner
This ought to tell you Hasbro has some problems with how it is run right now. The fact they couldn't see Disney's obvious objections to this has to make one wonder if anyone in the company has any common sense. Yes, the Hub failed. Get over it – making a knee-jerk move like this wasn't practical at all.
As much as the toymaker wants to be an entertainment giant, the fact they don't own many viable entertainment properties is going to make that hard. Most of the viable properties are licensed. Maybe they should come up with some new internal brands? That is lacking.
Philip164
AllSpark Studios was set up a while ago; before the Dreamworks talks. Jem and the Holograms and MLP are going to be the first AllSpark Studio productions.
With Hasbro Studios (TV), Allspark Pictures (Movies), 40% of Discovery Family (Channel), and Licensed Studios, Hasbro doesn't need Dreamworks; and they are already competing with Disney, CN, and Nick.
If Hasbro want's in on the entertainment industry they have the tools, they just lack the know-how.
flatline72
i can see it now….MLP vs Care Bears….
QLRformer
‘My Little Pony’ Movie in the Works at Hasbro Studios (EXCLUSIVE) | Variety
If I may ask, is the name AllSpark Studios for the new studio, as mentioned in the link above?
Zer0
Actually, analysts speculate that the deal fell through mostly because Hasbro was set to pay $2.3 billion, but Dreamworks Animation was looking for $3 billion and Hasbro wasn't willing to pay that much.