Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down with Hasbro (HAS) CEO Chris Cocks at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia and Technology Conference to discuss the toy company’s older customer base, its expansion into gaming, and the state of the industry ahead of the 2024 holiday shopping rush.
“I think we’re a toy company in the most general sense that we’re in the industry of play, and we make physical things as well as digital things. But I’d like to think that we’re helping to redefine what a toy company can be. You know, to me, a toy company of the future is aged up, it’s digital, and it’s heavily partner-based. And I think that’s been key to each of our turnaround notes,” Cocks says.
Cocks notes that customers 13 years old and above make up 60% of Hasbro’s sales, which makes the toymaker stand out against its competitors.
He attributes the success of this older base to three themes, the first being the fact that “everyone plays.” He adds that the rise of digital — the second theme — “powers a lifelong relationship with play.” Finally, Cocks emphasizes that partnerships are crucial, and by working with beloved brands like Disney (DIS), Takara Tomy, and Scopely, Hasbro can continue to drive play.
Gaming has proven to be a major success for Hasbro, as the company has experienced significant growth from its Monopoly Go! mobile game. Hasbro has another 10 games in development for PC and console, and more than 100 games in the pipeline for mobile through partnerships. Cocks explains that partnerships are key: “It’s all about having multiple business models to defray risk.”
As families start saving for their big holiday gifts, Cocks argues that “the toy industry is returning to its traditional role as a resilient category that retailers can rely on.” He expects Hasbro’s toy business to be up in the fourth quarter despite struggling with low inventory in its most recent quarter.
“We’ve made a lot of moves to make sure that doesn’t happen ever again. We had too much inventory coming in 2022 out of the pandemic. And so we’ve right-sized that… So not only is our inventory down, the cost of our products are way down as well,” he adds.
Catch more Yahoo Finance coverage and interviews from the 2024 Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, including Brian Sozzi’s full interview with Mattel (MAT) Chair and CEO Ynon Kreiz.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.
This post was written by Melanie Riehl
About the author
Gas leak shuts down 4 blocks in Mission, buildings evacuated
A gas leak near 24th and Hampshire streets in the Mission caused several buildings to be evacuated on Tuesday morning for about three hours, as emergency crews worked to find the source of the leak and shut it down. A four-block radius on Hampshire Street from 23rd to 25th streets and on 24th Street from Potrero Avenue to York Street was still shut down to vehicle traffic as of Tuesday afternoon, and emergency crews were on scene.Lt. Mariano Elias, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department, said the department got a 911 call from a construction worker at 9:15 a.m. about a broken gas pipe at the intersection. A private firm had been doing work that morning, Elias said, though he did not know the name of the firm.The crew struck a two-inch natural gas line at the intersection, […]
Nearly 100 still missing in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene
Ninety-two people are still unaccounted for in North Carolina, weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state, Governor Roy Cooper said on Tuesday.In a news conference on Tuesday, Cooper warned that number could change as more reports of missing people are resolved."I want to caution that this is not a definitive count, because the task force is continuing its work," he said.Ninety-five people are known to have died in North Carolina as a result of the storm, while more than 220 have been killed in total, including in Florida, where the storm made landfall.During the news conference, Cooper also made reference to the "persistent and dangerous flow of misinformation" circulating about the hurricane, which he said was continuing to complicate relief efforts.He said such misinformation "breeds confusion and demoralises storm survivors and response workers alike"."If you're participating […]
Murder trial for CashApp founder Bob Lee kicks off in San Francisco
During opening statements today in the highly anticipated murder trial of Nima Momeni, who is accused of stabbing CashApp founder Bob Lee to death last year, attorneys presented two different versions of events: One in which Momeni was a hostile aggressor, the other in which Lee was a drug-addled, sleep-deprived assailant. “Stabbed through his heart — and left to die,” Omid Talai, the lead prosecutor, said slowly and deliberately to the packed San Francisco Superior Courtroom, underscoring his version of events with images projected on two large screens of Lee’s lifeless and stitched-up body.He also showed the jury of seven men and five women surveillance footage of Lee’s movements in the hours before his death. Saam Zangeneh, the lead defense attorney, started with a similarly dramatic opening: “Six. Six hours,” he said. Evidence would show, he said, that Lee slept only six hours […]
A La Niña winter is coming. Here’s what that could mean for the US
Fall is in full swing, but it’s not too soon to look ahead to winter, especially one that could feel considerably different than last year’s dominated by El Niño.A weak La Niña is expected to develop ahead of the season and influence temperatures, precipitation, and by extension, even snow across the United States.La Niña is a natural climate pattern that influences global weather marked by cooler than average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The effects on weather are most pronounced during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere and have a much weaker influence in the summer.Last winter was the warmest on record for the Lower 48 because it was dominated by La Niña’s counterpart El Niño in a world also warming due to fossil fuel pollution.The prolonged warmth prevented many heavy snow events in the Northeast and Midwest and created […]
Thousands gather for Indigenous Peoples’ day on Alcatraz Island
Sign up below to get Mission Local’s free newsletter, a daily digest of news you won’t find elsewhere. While the rest of the city slept, Alcatraz glowed as thousands circled around a bonfire lit on the island in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.The annual sunrise gathering began before dawn on Monday to commemorate the original occupation of Alcatraz island, the ancestral lands of the Ohlone, by “Indians of All Tribes” between 1969 and 1971. Organizers from the International Indian Treaty Council say that action “sparked the National and International Indigenous Peoples movement for rights and justice.”This year, the event drew around 2,500 people, council liaison Morning Star Gali estimated. The crowds did not shy away from an early morning boat ride. The council’s executive director, Andrea Carmen, arrived around 2:30 a.m to set up for the dozens of indigenous performers who […]
Q3 earnings focus is on price pressures: JPMorgan strategist
After the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) close at record highs, JPMorgan asset management global market strategist Jordan Jackson sits down with Market Domination Overtime Hosts Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton to discuss his view that tech stocks are likely to take a backseat this earnings season.The strategist expects CEOs and CFOs will "continue to have this sort of benign outlook." He tells Yahoo Finance, "It's not great, but it's not bad either. And so I think in this environment, they can still flex a little bit of pricing power. You can still see the earnings recovery kind of come through for other sectors outside of technology, which I think is really important for the durability of this market rally, right. So I think you know co confidence is going to again be sort of benign. […]
Related
Nearly 100 still missing in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene
Ninety-two people are still unaccounted for in North Carolina, weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state, Governor Roy Cooper said on Tuesday.In a news conference on Tuesday, Cooper warned that number could change as more reports of missing people are resolved."I want to caution that this is not a definitive count, because the task force is continuing its work," he said.Ninety-five people are known to have died in North Carolina as a result of the storm, while more than 220 have been killed in total, including in Florida, where the storm made landfall.During the news conference, Cooper also made reference to the "persistent and dangerous flow of misinformation" circulating about the hurricane, which he said was continuing to complicate relief efforts.He said such misinformation "breeds confusion and demoralises storm survivors and response workers alike"."If you're participating […]
A La Niña winter is coming. Here’s what that could mean for the US
Fall is in full swing, but it’s not too soon to look ahead to winter, especially one that could feel considerably different than last year’s dominated by El Niño.A weak La Niña is expected to develop ahead of the season and influence temperatures, precipitation, and by extension, even snow across the United States.La Niña is a natural climate pattern that influences global weather marked by cooler than average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The effects on weather are most pronounced during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere and have a much weaker influence in the summer.Last winter was the warmest on record for the Lower 48 because it was dominated by La Niña’s counterpart El Niño in a world also warming due to fossil fuel pollution.The prolonged warmth prevented many heavy snow events in the Northeast and Midwest and created […]
Q3 earnings focus is on price pressures: JPMorgan strategist
After the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) close at record highs, JPMorgan asset management global market strategist Jordan Jackson sits down with Market Domination Overtime Hosts Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton to discuss his view that tech stocks are likely to take a backseat this earnings season.The strategist expects CEOs and CFOs will "continue to have this sort of benign outlook." He tells Yahoo Finance, "It's not great, but it's not bad either. And so I think in this environment, they can still flex a little bit of pricing power. You can still see the earnings recovery kind of come through for other sectors outside of technology, which I think is really important for the durability of this market rally, right. So I think you know co confidence is going to again be sort of benign. […]
Two new casinos proposed just blocks apart in South Mississippi. Here are both plans
Developers have worked for years to build a new casino in east Biloxi and now two properties a few blocks from each other are going to the Mississippi Gaming Commission for site approval.“They’re two different casinos,” said Jay McDaniel, executive director of Mississippi Gaming Commission.Tullis Gardens Hotel and casino is just west of Harrah’s Gulf Coast.Biloxi Capital proposes building on the Tivoli a short walk away, near the Biloxi Yacht Club and Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art.The Tullis Garden Hotel request for site approval is on Thursday’s Gaming Commission agenda to be presented to the commission in Jackson, McDaniel said,The legal advertisement for Biloxi Capital’s site is running in the Sun Herald for the required three weeks, Oct. 2, 9 and 16, and then will be considered.Getting site approval from the three-member Gaming Commission is necessary to proceed with plans, but […]
Father sentenced to 55 years in prison for killing daughter over prom dispute
An Illinois father has been sentenced to more than five decades in prison for killing his 17-year-old daughter over a prom dispute, according to Illinois TV stations Fox 32 and WGN-9.[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]Mohammed Almaru, 44, was sentenced to 55 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in connection to the death of his daughter, Mia Maro, in May 2022.TRENDING STORIES:Both stations report that Mohammed beat Maro to death after a disagreement over prom.At the time of her death, she was weeks away from graduating high school. She attended Victor Andrew High School, according to WGN-9.Court documents indicate that Almaru initially allowed Maro to go to the dance but changed his mind because “he did not trust her,” both stations report.In the days before her death, Maro reached out to a relative […]
1 Vanguard ETF to Buy Now, 1 to Avoid
One of the best innovations in investing has been the exchange-traded fund (ETF), an investment vehicle that lets anyone easily buy shares of a fund that holds a group of related stocks, often in an index.Vanguard founder Jack Bogle is credited with creating one of the first index funds, a mutual fund that paved the way for the popular Vanguard 500 Fund, which tracks the S&P 500.Today, Vanguard remains one of the most popular ETF managers and it offers investors dozens to choose from. Let's take a look at one worth investing in and one to avoid right now.Image source: Getty Images.One Vanguard ETF to buy nowThe Vanguard ETF worth buying right now is the Vanguard Financials ETF (NYSEMKT: VFH), which tracks the MSCI US benchmark of large, mid-, and small-cap stocks in the financial sector.Few ETFs are as cheap […]
