Hasbro cuts 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, prompted by the continuing malaise within the toy enterprise

Enterprise

The practically century-old Rhode Island-based firm behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony toys disclosed the layoffs in a memo to workers printed in a regulatory submitting.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Related Press

December 12, 2023 | 8:45 AM

NEW YORK (AP) — Toy maker Hasbro stated Monday it’s chopping about 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, because the malaise within the toy enterprise extends via one other vacation purchasing season.

The practically century-old Rhode Island-based firm behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony toys disclosed the layoffs in a memo to workers printed in a regulatory submitting. The Wall Avenue Journal first reported the information.

The corporate stated that the reductions are on high of 800 job cuts which were taken to date in 2023 as a part of strikes introduced final yr to avoid wasting as much as $300 million yearly by 2025. As of year-end 2022, the corporate stated it had 6,490 workers.

Like many toy corporations, Hasbro is scuffling with a slowdown in gross sales after a surge throughout pandemic lockdowns when dad and mom have been splurging on toys to maintain their kids busy. Final vacation season, many toy corporations needed to slash costs to eliminate merchandise as a consequence of weak demand. And the challenges have continued. Toy gross sales within the U.S. have been down 8% from January via August, primarily based on Circana’s most up-to-date information.

“The market headwinds we anticipated have confirmed to be stronger and extra persistent than deliberate,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks wrote within the memo. “Whereas we now have made some essential progress throughout our group, the headwinds we noticed via the primary 9 months of the yr have continued into vacation and are prone to persist into 2024.”

Cocks had stated the toymaker will “concentrate on fewer, greater manufacturers; gaming; digital; and our quickly rising direct to shopper and licensing companies.”

Shares in Hasbro Inc. fell nearly 6% in after-market buying and selling Monday.