GI Joe goes to Hollywood... Hasbro, the toy icon that makes Monopoly, Jenga, and My Little Pony, is making more than just Monopoly money. Hasbro's sales jumped an expectation-crushing 54% last quarter, and the stock soared 12% yesterday.
- Classics never get old: Sales of toys like Nerf guns and Play-Doh jumped 33%.
- Card games go digital: Popular online games like Dungeons and Dragons helped Hasbro more than double its digital gaming revenue.
- Toys learn new tricks: Hasbro’s entertainment division, which makes kids TV hits like “Peppa Pig,” upped its revenue by 47%.
Toys are movie stars now… Hasbro wants to become an entertainment company so that it can squeeze more bucks out of its toys. Hasbro partnered with Paramount to launch the toy-inspired, $5B Transformers movie franchise. Now it wants to give other toys the Transformers treatment. In 2019, Hasbro bought movie production studio eOne. Now it's developing 200 movies and TV shows, including 30 projects based on brands like Dungeons & Dragons, My Little Pony, and Clue.
Toy biz is becoming show biz… Hasbro’s doubling down on the biggest opportunity in toys: entertainment. By spinning its best-known characters and games into shows and movies, Hasbro hopes to replicate the "flywheel" success of media giants like Disney, whose films, TV shows, and theme parks rely on the same characters. Rival toy maker Mattel, which drops earnings today, has a similar vision: it’s producing 13 movies based on toys like Barbie, Hot Wheels, and American Girl dolls.