Toy Industry News
Earlier today everyone’s most favorite toy company – aka Hasbro – posted their numbers for the last quarter. Wall Street did not like it all that much, and shares dropped by several points following the report, even though Hasbro made money, they report an operating profit of $302 million.
But then again, revenue for the quarter is down 15% compared to the respective 2023 quarter, and year to date revenue is down 18% even. Hasbro becomes more and more Magic The Gathering, the Company. Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming keep Hasbro afloat. Consumer products revenue keeps declining however, i.e. classic toys. And what about Star Wars? For the first time in ages the brand does get a mention in the presentation and Hasbro even talked about Star Wars in the earnings call where they answer questions of analysts. Let’s just say it’s not pretty. Click through to learn more!
Spoiler…
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Last Thursday Hasbro presented their Q2 numbers. Chris Cocks is full of praise of course. Even though consumer products declined by another 20% and as far as partner brands are concerned…. abysmal performance. Click through for a short summary and overview!
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Earlier today Hasbro released their numbers for Q4/2023 and also for the full year. And as expected the results are pretty bad. Click through for the details!
No reason to smile
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Early this morning Hasbro released their numbers for the 3rd quarter 2023. So how are things? Chris Cocks sees the company right on track because of his excellence initiative. In reality investors are not happy and at the time of writing this article Hasbro’s stock price is rapidly declining, it’s currently about 10% lower than yesterday, at roughly $49 now.
Why is that? Well, it turns out consumers value other things much more than toys in times of high inflation. And Hasbro also warned that things will not improve for the holiday season. In fact, analysts expect the toy market to shrink in 2023.
And what about Star Wars? Star Wars (and Marvel) were not mentioned even once in Hasbro’s report. Which is usually never a good thing to begin with. But based on the numbers and information provided in the earnings call one can say without a doubt that sales are shrinking by quite a bit. Click through for more about that!
Not a happy time for Hasbro
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Hasbro presented their numbers for fhe first quarter of 2023 two weeks ago. This is usually on my radar, but I was a bit busy, so I only get to talk about it now. And to make it as short and painless as possible: it’s horrible! And Star Wars toys are almost certainly once more in dire straits. Click through for more!
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Before you immediately skip this article because Funko does not interest you: you want to read this. Because Funko’s brand new earnings report for 2022 potentially tells us a LOT about Hasbro and Star Wars. And how Hasbro may try to dazzle and misdirect people with lots of smoke, mirrors and glitter when they talk about “record sales” for Marvel and “sales growth” for Star Wars. You certainly remember Hasbro’s proud announcement about these things? Well, Funko’s earnings report sheds some light on what “record sales” and “sales growth” can actually mean…
We don’t talk about Funko all that much here, because Funko Pops apparently appeal to a different demographic and not the middle-aged somewhat grumpy collector who got his or her first Star Wars action figure in 1978. However, Funko’s recently released 2022 results shed some very interesting light on the collectible market and the challenges they are facing. In fact, it may (and certainly does) even provide some context for Hasbro’s earnings report from a while ago. Because what is happening over at Funko is almost certainly also happening at Hasbro.
And the headline gives you a good indication of what is currently going on at Funko. It’s nothing good. And they had record sales even, their sales in 2022 are up by 29%, yet that all means very little… Click through for the full story!
Record sales!
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Hasbro released its preliminary Q4/2022 and full year 2022 results a while ago. And today we got the final numbers with added details. As reported previously 2022 was a very bad year for the toy company. Revenue is down by 9% year over year and the holiday season was abysmal, 17% less revenue, and even 30% less partner brands revenue in Q4, and then in early January Hasbro agitated the Dungeons & Dragons community, the effects of which will only be visible in the Q1/2023 report. But despite all the doom and gloom and a 9% decline in partner brands sales year over year Hasbro also had a few positive things to say in their presentation. And yes, according to Hasbro it was a record year for Marvel toys and Star Wars also saw growth. Click through for more!
Higher prices increase revenue?
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Hasbro will release their Q4/2022 and full year 2022 results on February 16th, but preliminary results were released by the toy company earlier today. And the results are not pretty. As a reaction to the bad numbers Hasbro also announced that they will lay off roughly 15% of their global workforce in 2023, about 1,000 people. So how bad are things? Really bad! Click through for more!
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Today I want to talk about Hasbro’s current business strategy. This is not about whether or not Hasbro will go down, they will not, but ever since Chris Cocks took over from late CEO Brian Goldner things have not exactly been great for the company. And things have especially been less than great in what matters to us the most, the action figure toy lines, and here I am not just talking about Star Wars, but also Marvel. So the question is if Hasbro’s extremely ambitious goals and current business strategy are biting the very hands that feed them and if irreparable damage could be done to the various collecting communities, hurting the toy lines in the long run. Click through for more!
A sign of the times?
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Hasbro released their financial report for the 3rd quarter yesterday. And the toymaker failed to meet targets and suffered a major revenue decline. However, not everything is doom and gloom, and when you look at the report in detail you can see that what matters to us most here, Star Wars, is still performing well. Click through for more details!
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About two weeks ago Todd McFarlane gave an hourlong interview to YouTube action figure reviewer Shartimus Prime. And while it’s not really about Star Wars at all, McFarlane Toys has no Star Wars license of course, it’s still a very interesting interview, since McFarlane provides some insight into the industry. So anyone interested in the business of making toys should definitely check out the interview and take the time to listen to it. Among other things McFarlane talks about how insane shipping prices became in 2021, from $2,000 for one container to $20,000. And he also talks in detail about the difference between a privately owned company like McFarlane Toys and the big players who are all publically traded companies with responsibilities to their shareholders. But what made a lot of waves are McFarlane’s comments about female action figures, namely his statement that female action figures simply don’t sell as well as male hero characters and that boys simply prefer the male heroes, even over the villains, and even more so over the female characters and that it would be a bad idea to make a female centric action figure wave, because it would not sell as well. It didn’t take long for the attacks to start, as usual on Twitter, but sites like Bleeding Cool also chimed in and disputed McFarlane’s statements. So today I want to ask you if you are happy with the female characters we have in the Star Wars action figure lines and if you’d like more female characters or think the number we have right now is ok. Click through for the discussion!
Yay or nay?
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Earlier this week, on Monday, Hasbro presented its numbers for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the full year. To make things short: Hasbro presented some pretty strong numbers, the company is doing extremely well.
Overall revenue was up by an impressive 17% to 6.42 billion USD for the full year. And upcoming new CEO Chris Cocks even talked about Star Wars in the earnings call following the presentation! And here Hasbro finally reveals what its profit margins for things like Star Wars are (spoiler: they are terrible). The statements in the earnings call explain everything that has been going on with the Star Wars toylines in recent years, and it’s nothing you will probably like to hear. So even if numbers usually bore you, you should read this, because it will tell you why things are what they are and why it’s not going to change. Click through for more details!
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It’s that time of the year again when companies report their quarterly earnings. Hasbro did so a little more than two weeks ago, Disney followed this week. So how are things? Don’t expect all that many details, especially regarding Star Wars, as usual, no numbers are given, but we have some statements at least that tell us how the brand is doing. So click through for a brief overview!
Violins play in the background
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Funko released their Q4 2020 earnings report yesterday. Net sales for the full year are down compared to 2019 for apparent reasons, however, Q4 earnings were up year over year. Also, sales for Funko Pops grew in 2020 by 1% worldwide and 12% in the US. Funko’s domestic US sales were the strongest yet, however the pandemic did affect global sales. But let’s not dwell on the numbers too much. More interesting is what Funko’s bestsellers were. Contrary to many other toy companies Funko do provide a detailed breakdown of their top selling licenses in their earnings presentation. And here it is more good news for Star Wars toy sales! Click through for more details!
This Funko Pop! is rising in value
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Funko and Hasbro both released their earnings reports for the 3rd quarter a short while ago. And things continue to look pretty good for Star Wars toys. After years of dwindling sales Star Wars toys are more in demand again. This trend started in 2019 and The Mandalorian turns out to be one of the key factors behind that new success. Click through for some more info!
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A few days ago Funko presented their Q2 earnings. And things are as expected, Funko’s revenue in Q2 declined by almost 49%. But Star Wars is still a top performer and even bucks the trend! Click through for some more details!
The only available “The Client” figure
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Hasbro released their numbers for Q2/2020 earlier this week. And while things are mostly as expected, revenue is down by almost 30%, Star Wars bucked the trend! Click through for more!
Let’s be happy!
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After years of growth Funko reported a relatively weak 1st quarter of 2020. Net sales are down 18% compared to Q1/2019 and Funko reported a loss of $5.7 million for the first quarter. The company attributes the decline to the current Covid-19 pandemic that caused lockdowns all around the globe. But Funko’s earnings report also has a few tidbits about Star Wars that are quite interesting! And there is also some news about Hasbro’s Star Wars toyline, and it’s all positive! So click through for a more detailed look at Funko Pops and Star Wars toys in general!
Funko Pop Mandalorian
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The NPD Group, which tracks toy sales across 13 major markets, released their 2019 toy market numbers a while ago. And while toy sales were down 3% overall across all the tracked markets, it’s not all bad news. One toy supercategory saw very healthy growth even in 2019. Can you guess which one? Click through for the answer!
A Disney Store at Target
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The wait is finally over, after months and months of speculation Hasbro and Disney finally announced that both companies will extend their partnership and that Hasbro will continue to make toys for both Star Wars and Marvel! This is a multi-year deal and covers both theatrical releases and shows on Disney+!
Not much else is known at the moment, i.e. how much was paid, if royalty rates are more reasonable now or when the new agreement will expire. We will update this article once we learn more!
What are your thoughts now? Are you happy that Hasbro will keep making Star Wars toys (and Marvel Legends, of course)? In my opinion Hasbro was and is still the best partner for Disney. Leave your own thoughts in the comments!
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Target reported yesterday that toy sales for the 2019 holiday season disappointed and didn’t meet expectations. Toy sales were basically flat compared to 2018. Click through for more!
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CNN Business released an article about our favorite toymaker and according to CNN Business Hasbro “really, really needs you to buy ‘Frozen 2’ and ‘Star Wars’ toys this holiday season”. While the article goes in detail about Frozen merchandise, which shall not concern us here, it also talks at length about Star Wars toys and lack of sales and why it really needs to change this holiday season. So click through to learn more about what a toy industry analyst from BMO Capital Markets thinks about the state of Star Wars toys, the challenges this holiday season and why Baby Yoda could be a huge help!
Hasbro’s hope?
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The Trump Administration has announced to suspend the planned tariffs for “list 4” goods made in China – at least for the time being. Tariffs would have been 25% and “List 4” goods would have included toys and video games (including consoles). Several representatives of the toy industry made trips to Washington in recent times in order to change the opinion of President Trump. It seems to have worked for now. So fans of action figures or video games and consoles can relax a bit. Star Wars action figures will not get more expensive any time soon, or at least not because of tariffs.
Read the full story on io9.
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USAopoly, a board game company that, among other things, makes licensed Game of Thrones games such as a chess set, Risk or a GoT themed Clue game, has struck a license deal with Disney Consumer Products UK. USAopoly will release several new Star Wars board and tabletop games, and their first release will be a light strategy tabletop game. USAopoly only has the license for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which probably means Hasbro still has the exclusive license to make Star Wars themed board games such as Escape from Death Star in the US and elsewhere. Still, it’s interesting to see that Disney is diversifying their Star Wars licensees, especially in light of the Star Wars master license which will expire in late 2020. Are you interested in Star Wars board games and is that something you look forward to? Unfortunately, anyone in the US will have to import these new games by USAopoly from Europe.
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Hasbro released their numbers for the 1st quarter of 2019 and overall the quarter was alright for the company. Hasbro reported revenues of $732.5 million and net earnings of $26.7 million. But what about Star Wars? Click through for more info!
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