52 Facts About Hasbro

1.

Hasbro, Inc is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

FactSnippet No. 447,260
2.

Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others.

FactSnippet No. 447,261
3.

The Hasbro brand spawned TV shows to promote its products, such as Family Game Night on the Discovery Family network, a joint venture with Warner Bros.

FactSnippet No. 447,262
4.

Hasbro entered the plastic fields during World War II to support its toy line.

FactSnippet No. 447,263
5.

Hasbro was approached in 1963 to license a toy based on The Lieutenant, which they turned down because they did not want to be tied to a possibly short-lived television series.

FactSnippet No. 447,264
6.

The unpopular Vietnam War was at its height in 1969, so Hasbro redesigned GI Joe to be less militaristic and more adventure-oriented.

FactSnippet No. 447,265
7.

Also in 1969, Hasbro bought Burt Claster Enterprises which produced "Romper Room" and had just begun a Romper Room toy line.

FactSnippet No. 447,266
8.

In 1970, Hasbro began a plan of diversification and opened the Romper Room Nursery School franchise chain to cash in on President Richard M Nixon's Family Assistance Plan which subsidized day care for working mothers.

FactSnippet No. 447,267
9.

Hasbro entered the cookware field with the Galloping Gourmet line based on a television cooking show.

FactSnippet No. 447,268
10.

That same year, Hasbro acquired licensing rights to Peanuts cartoon characters.

FactSnippet No. 447,269
11.

Hasbro focused on simple, low-cost, longer life-cycle toys like Mr Potato Head.

FactSnippet No. 447,270
12.

Hasbro thus stayed out of the electronic games field which went bust in the early 1980s.

FactSnippet No. 447,271
13.

Hasbro launched the successful Transformers toy line along with a children's animated TV series two years later.

FactSnippet No. 447,272
14.

In 1982, Hasbro produced the successful toy franchise My Little Pony.

FactSnippet No. 447,273
15.

Hasbro followed up in 1988 with Maxie, a Barbie-sized blonde doll, so that Barbie clothing and accessories would fit.

FactSnippet No. 447,274
16.

Under Alan's initiative in the late 1980s, Hasbro moved to increase international sales by taking toys overseas that had failed in the US market and selling them for as much as four times the original price.

FactSnippet No. 447,275
17.

Hasbro Interactive was started in 1995 and released the Monopoly game on CD-ROM.

FactSnippet No. 447,276
18.

In 1998, Hasbro bought Avalon Hill for $6 million and Galoob for $220 million.

FactSnippet No. 447,277
19.

Hasbro entered the building block toy with its Built to Rule line in 2003, which did not hold together well or were too hard for the targeted age group, thus ended in 2005.

FactSnippet No. 447,278
20.

That same year, Hasbro Studios was formed for TV development, production and distribution.

FactSnippet No. 447,279
21.

In December 2012, Hasbro transferred all entertainment divisions to Hasbro Studios, including their LA-based film group, and Cake Mix Studio, the company's Rhode Island-based producer of commercials and short form content.

FactSnippet No. 447,280
22.

Hasbro collaborated with Discovery on The Hub, a cable television network targeting younger children and families, which launched on October 10, 2010.

FactSnippet No. 447,281
23.

In 2013, Hasbro renewed its deal to produce Marvel Comics and Star Wars toys through at least 2020.

FactSnippet No. 447,282
24.

Hasbro changed its paper purchasing policy, earning the company praise from Greenpeace executive director Phil Radford, who said: "The new Hasbro policy will increase the recycled and Forest Stewardship Council certified paper in its toy packaging.

FactSnippet No. 447,283
25.

Hasbro was named by Fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013, citing that the "company enhanced its vacation policy by giving new employees three weeks off in their first year instead of having to wait five years.

FactSnippet No. 447,284
26.

Hasbro signed a five-year deal with Cartamundi to produce their board games at the East Longmeadow plant.

FactSnippet No. 447,285
27.

In September 2014, Disney announced that Hasbro would be the doll licensee for the Disney Princess line starting on January 1, 2016.

FactSnippet No. 447,286
28.

In July 2016, Hasbro acquired Dublin-based Boulder Media Limited and placed it under the control of its chief content officer.

FactSnippet No. 447,287
29.

Hasbro announced that it would launch its own convention, named HasCon, and featuring "all things Hasbro" in 2016, with the inaugural event being held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in September 2017.

FactSnippet No. 447,288
30.

On November 10, 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hasbro had made a takeover offer for Mattel, Inc At the time, Mattel worth was $5 billion, while Hasbro was about $11 billion.

FactSnippet No. 447,289
31.

On February 27, 2018, Variety reported in a detailed article that Hasbro came close to buying Lionsgate, but the deal fell through.

FactSnippet No. 447,290
32.

On May 1, 2018, Hasbro agreed to purchase Power Rangers and other entertainment assets from Saban Brands for US$522 million in cash and stock with the licensing fee recently paid with credit.

FactSnippet No. 447,291
33.

In 2018, Hasbro signed a number of licensing agreements for hospitality deals based on Hasbro brands.

FactSnippet No. 447,292
34.

On October 24, 2019, Hasbro announced the closing of Backflip Studios, while its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary purchased Tuque Games in October.

FactSnippet No. 447,293
35.

In February 2020, Hasbro announced that Campbell Arnott's former CMO David McNeil had joined the company as the managing director for Pacific operations.

FactSnippet No. 447,294
36.

In June 2022, Hasbro defeated a board challenge from activist investor Alta Fox Capital Management LLC The hedge fund company, which owns a 2.

FactSnippet No. 447,295
37.

Hasbro has several brands of toys and games aimed at different demographics.

FactSnippet No. 447,296
38.

Hasbro is the largest producer of board games in the world as a result of its component brands, such as Parker Brothers, Waddingtons, Milton Bradley, Wizards of the Coast, and Avalon Hill.

FactSnippet No. 447,297
39.

Hasbro offers a memory game called Simon which involves memorising sequences of colors and lights.

FactSnippet No. 447,298
40.

In 1995, Hasbro began a short-lived video game development and publishing venture called Hasbro Interactive, but disbanded it in 2001 when it was bought by the now defunct Infogrames.

FactSnippet No. 447,299
41.

Now Hasbro develops video games based on its brands through third-party developers and licensing strategies, notably with major American companies such as Activision, Electronic Arts, and THQ.

FactSnippet No. 447,300
42.

On February 25, 2005, Hasbro announced that it would be introducing a musical toothbrush to the market.

FactSnippet No. 447,301
43.

Hasbro issued a statement, saying that it would "act swiftly and decisively in making any necessary changes" and had "increased the intensity of [its] ongoing safety review efforts.

FactSnippet No. 447,302
44.

Hasbro has been criticized for focusing some of its products on specific demographic groups.

FactSnippet No. 447,303
45.

Hasbro primarily sells toys directed at either the girl or boy markets.

FactSnippet No. 447,304
46.

Hasbro was criticized for "sexist" product design when its 2015 Star Wars Monopoly board game failed to feature Rey, the female protagonist in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while including all of the supporting male characters.

FactSnippet No. 447,305
47.

Hasbro explained that Rey was left out of the Monopoly game to avoid spoilers, because the game was released months before the movies.

FactSnippet No. 447,306
48.

On January 5, 2016, Hasbro announced that Rey would be included in future versions.

FactSnippet No. 447,307
49.

Hasbro later stated that it struggled to distribute the updated Monopoly game that includes the Rey piece, because retailers showed "insufficient interest" after having already purchased stock of the first release.

FactSnippet No. 447,308
50.

Hasbro's was seeking a declaration from the U S District Court in Providence that her husband Bill Markham was the sole creator of The Game of Life.

FactSnippet No. 447,309
51.

In early August 2020, Hasbro produced a DreamWorks Animation Troll doll device for pre-school age children which had an unadvertised activator on the doll's private parts that caused the device to emit several audio recordings that were questioned by some American mothers; in particular one of them posted a Facebook video stream that went viral.

FactSnippet No. 447,310
52.

Hasbro Pulse Con is a virtual convention held through the Hasbro Pulse website, following the cancelation of HasCon 2019 due the COVID-19 pandemic.

FactSnippet No. 447,311