Hasbro slashes jobs again: Toymaker behind Monopoly and Play-Doh cuts 20% of workforce affecting 1,100 employees on top of the 800 jobs already cut this year amid sales slump

• Hasbro is cutting jobs again – after making redundancies to save $300m by 2025

Toymaker Hasbro is cutting 20 per cent of its workforce, affecting 1,100 jobs as the malaise in the toy business extends through another holiday shopping season.

The Rhode-island based firm behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony disclosed the layoffs in a memo published in a regulatory filing on Monday.

The company said the reductions were on top of the 800 cuts that have already been made this year as part of a move to save $300m annually by 2025.

At the end of last year, the company – founded 100 years ago this month – said it had 6,490 employees left.

Hasbro is struggling with a slowdown in sales following a surge during the Covid lockdowns when parents were splurging on toys to keep their children busy. 

Last Christmas, many toy companies had to cut their prices to get merchandise off shelves as demand dried up. 

‘The market headwinds we anticipated have proven to be stronger and more persistent than planned,’ Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks wrote in the memo. 

‘While we have made some important progress across our organization, the headwinds we saw through the first nine months of the year have continued into holiday and are likely to persist into 2024.’ 

Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro (L) and James B. Laster (R) attend the 91st anniversary of the Hollywood Christmas Parade, supporting Marine Toys For Tots on November 26, 2023

File photo shows a statue of Mr Potato Head at the corporate HQ of Hasbro in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, April 23, 2004

The announcement came just two weeks before Christmas, traditionally the time toymakers bring in about half of their yearly revenues.

Cocks cited ongoing challenges despite ‘historic, pandemic-driven highs’ through 2020 and 2021.

Overall, the industry has struggled to regain ground in the US, with toy sales falling 10 per cent year-on-year in November alone, according to Circana, a research firm.

In October, on the back of four consecutive quarterly losses, Hasbro predicted its expected sales would fall 15 per cent this year, having previously forecast a much smaller three to five per cent decline. 

Cocks had said the toymaker will ‘focus on fewer, bigger brands; gaming; digital; and our rapidly growing direct to consumer and licensing businesses.’

Shares in Hasbro Inc. fell almost 6 per cent in after-market trading Monday. 

The company expects the 1,100 additional cuts will be made in the next 18 to 24 months, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Hasbro said the layoffs were expected to save $100m in costs annually, accounting for some $40m spent in severance packages. 

Toymakers elsewhere expect sales may fall after months of parents weathering the rising cost of living.

‘The most important thing for people this holiday is to have food on the table for their families,’ Isaac Larian, CEO of Bratz doll maker MGA Entertainment, said in an interview.

Larian is expecting holiday sales at his company, which also makes Little Tikes toys and sells products across Europe and the United States, to decline by 10-12% worldwide versus last year. 

Revenues usually peak around Christmas – but have struggled over the last two years

Monopoly, a popular game published first in the UK in 1935 and owner by Hasbro since 1991

Applejack in My Little Pony, a much loved franchise owned by Hasbro since 1981

Play-Doh, a modelling clay aimed at young children and owned by Hasbro since 1991

Even Mattel – owner of Barbie, which broke records on the big screen this year, pulling in $1.4bn and even leading to a global shortage of pink paint – is forecasting difficulty shifting dolls.

Apparently anticipating the lower demand, Mattel’s inventory levels at the end of the third quarter declined by double-digit percentage versus the prior year, with weeks of supply down high single digits, it said in October – ahead of Black Friday.

Sales of the toys surged in Q3 after the movie hit the silver screen, Box Office Mojo reported. 

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