Hasbro

**Hasbro, Inc** (a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, **Hassenfeld Brothers**) is an American multinational toy and board game company headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is the largest toy maker in the world in terms of stock market value, and third largest with revenues of approximately $4.45 billion. Hasbro acquired the trademarks and products of Kenner, Parker Brothers, and Milton Bradley, among others.

Among its products are *Monopoly*, *G.I. Joe*, *Furby*, *Transformers*, *Nerf*, *My Little Pony* and *Yo-Kai Watch*. The Hasbro brand also spawned TV shows to promote its products, such as Family Game Night on the Discovery Family network. It was the owner of Allspark.

Two years after the acquisition of Popples and the other entertainment franchise's from Saban, Hasbro begin making their own line by using Funko Pop Vinyl toys to create two Popples from the original 1986 series. These lines include Prize and P.C Popple. As of the 2015 Netflix series, they are still selling them and restocking them.

They are now the owners of Hasbro Entertainment

## History

### 2018:

**May 1st:** On May 1, 2018, it was announced that Hasbro had taken over full rights to *Power Rangers* and most if not all of the other Saban Brands properties after an acquisition purchase. This includes *Popples*.

* **May 27:** *Popples* aired on Star Times ( is the leading digital TV operator in Africa, with 480 authorized channels consisting of news, movies, series, sports, entertainment, children's programs, etc.)

### September

* **September 3**: *Popples* airs on Spacetoon in the Arab world (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Western Sahara, and Yemen).

### August

* **August 4:** Another StarTimes Facebook post on Popples
* **August 17:** StarTimes Official YouTube Channel uploaded a video called "Popples on StarTimes Kids Channel.

### Unknown date

* The official *Popples* website have been updated after Hasbro bought the rights from Saban.

## 2019

### January

* **January 9**: The second official *Popples* YouTube channel was launched.
* **January 28**: *Popples* premieres in Azerbaijan, Northern Cyprus, and Turkey on Kidz TV.

### July

* **July 1**: *Popples* makes its US television debut on Discovery Family.

### September

* **September 12/13th :** *Popples* arrives on Toonee( a toon channel) through the box psi 90, gmmz 99, Charoen Cable 453 and ais paybox 453
* **September 25:** Donnee launched their version of the Thailand on their own website called Donnee.com and YouTube channel. They are starting on Smart House Arrest and is broadcasting the series in it's entirely.

## 2020

### April

* **April 20:** the first release of the Funko 51318 POP Vinyl: Hasbro-Popple w/Chase (Styles vary) Collectible Toy, Multicolour, was launched everywhere

### May

* **May 1:** Hasbro released a Popple P.C. Popple 02 Exclusive Funko toy which is only available in the US at Target and other stores..

### November

* **November 16:** Hasbro released a Funko 51318 POP Vinyl: Hasbro-Popple w/Chase (Styles vary) Collectible Toy, Multicolour, which is simply Prize Popple of the original series. Interestingly it was first released on April 20th 2020, but moved it to November 16th then went everywhere else

* **November 20:** Hasbro released a Funko Pop! Retro Toys: Hasbro - Popple Bundle with 1 PopShield Pop Box Protector which is Prize Popple and a protector box of the original series.

## 2021

### February

* **February 25:** during the 2021 Investor Event, Hasbro announced a company reorganization with three divisions: Consumer Products, Entertainment, and Wizards & Digital. The *Wall Street Journal* reported that "Hasbro's net revenue fell 8% last year to $5.47 billion, due in part to retail shutdowns related to Covid-19," however, its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary "posted revenue of $816 million last year, up 24% from 2019, fuelled by what Hasbro says were record years for" *Dungeons & Dragons* and *Magic: The Gathering*. *ICv2* reported, "the WotC and Digital Gaming segment is over $112 million more than the operating profit for Hasbro's entire consumer products segment" and that "Wizards of the Coast on its own is also more profitable than Hasbro's consumer products segment [...]. From the outside, Hasbro looks like a toy company, but with these numbers, it's revealed to be a geek game company with toy and entertainment divisions".

### April

* **April:** Hasbro agreed to sell EOne Music Unit to Blackstone for $385 million, offloading part of the Entertainment One operations that it acquired in 2019

### October

* **October 12:** Hasbro's long-time CEO Brian Goldner died after a 7-year battle with cancer and the same day Richard Stoddart served as the interim CEO of the company

## 2022

### January

* **January 5:** Chris Cocks was named as Goldner's successor

### February

* **February 25;** Chris Cocks became CE0. Cocks was formerly the president and chief operating officer of Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro

### June

* Hasbro defeated a board challenge from activist investor Alta Fox Capital Management LLC.
* The hedge fund company, which owns a 2.5% stake of Hasbro, had been pushing to spin out Wizards of the Coast. "into its own company in an attempt to create what they saw was more value by making a second publicly traded company with a more profitable line of business"

### November

* **November 17:** Hasbro announced they had put Entertainment One up for sale. This includes their film and TV business but would exclude the company's children's division, so eOne franchises like *Peppa Pig* would remain under Hasbro.

## 2023

### March

* **March 09:** Loungefly announced a Popple plush cosplay mini backpacks which arrived at South by Southwest (SXSW) from March 12 to 15, 2023, and creating a true Y2K paradise within the Austin Convention Center.
* **March 12th - 15th:** Popples Backpacks were on sale there for the first time.
* Also on **March 15:** It was reported that Fremantle, Lionsgate and Legendary Entertainment are interested in the buyout of Entertainment One

### July

* **July 17:** *Deadline* reported that Lionsgate was a frontrunner to acquire Entertainment One

### August

* **August 3:** Hasbro announced that Lionsgate would acquire Entertainment One for $500 million, with the transaction expected to close in late 2023.

* **August 16th:** Hasbro founded a new production and distribution division called **Hasbro Entertainment** and the successor of Allspark and following the sale of most of the Entertainment One assets (except for its family brands division, which has been folded into Hasbro) to Lionsgate in 2023.

### December

* **December 12th:** TechCrunch **reported** that paperwork Hasbro filed with the SEC contained information announcing layoffs of 1,100 employees (20% of their entire workforce across all divisions) effective immediately. Hasbro's CEO, Chris Cocks, stated that this reduction is part of a broader cost-saving strategy, aimed at saving $350 million to $400 million by 2025, with a renewed focus on high-profit areas like licensing entertainment, partially in the Wizards of the Coast division. Hasbro also announced to have signed a deal with McFarlane Toys as part the latter's Page Punchers line-up

* **December 27th:** Hasbro announced that they have completed the transfer of ownership from them to Lionsgate, effectively immediately, but they are retraining control of eOne's family brands and Astley Baker Davies, placing them into a new subsidiary called Hasbro Entertainment.

## Trivia

* Because Hasbro bought the rights for *Popples*, it's unknown if they would still keep the 2015 characters or they'll create a brand new TV series with new original characters similar to what Saban Brands did after they got the rights for the franchise in 2012.
* Hasbro is chronologically the fifth toy company to own the rights for the *Popples* franchise after Mattel for the original 1986 toyline, Toymax for the 2001 revival lines, Playmate Toys for the 2008 revival lines, and previously Saban for the 2015 revival.
* Since Hasbro is owning the *Popples* franchise, the 2015 series have made its US television debut on Discovery Family, a channel owned by the company.
* It's possible that the second official Popples YouTube channel was created because Hasbro took over the franchise's rights. Most of the episode clip videos from the first official Popples YouTube channel are currently blocked by Hasbro despite they're originally uploaded for the official *Popples* website that's from the Saban era. As of 2022 all videos expect for Access Popplopolis Lulu (which is private) is unblocked so that everyone can see them
* Despite *Popples* now belongs to Hasbro, the official Hasbro website for the franchise has the "TM& © 2023 SCG Characters LLC" trademark from Saban.

## External links

* Official website
* Official Hasbro Popples website

## References

1. ↑ https://newsroom.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-acquire-saban-brands-power-rangers-and-other
2. ↑  https://stylecaster.com/loungefly-jurassic-park/ Loungefly Is Tuning Into ‘Jurassic Park’, Strawberry Shortcake & Popples Fandoms With These New Collections Coming Soon
3. ↑  https://stylecaster.com/loungefly-jurassic-park/ Loungefly Is Tuning Into ‘Jurassic Park’, Strawberry Shortcake & Popples Fandoms With These New Collections Coming Soon
4. ↑  https://loungefly.com/popples-cosplay-plush-mini-backpack/PPLBK0001.html/ Popples Cosplay Plush Mini Backpack
5. ↑  https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/hasbro-entertainment-eone-olivier-dumont-zev-foreman-gabriel-marano-1235698163/ Hasbro Launches Entertainment Division Led by eOne Executives Olivier Dumont, Zev Foreman, Gabriel Marano
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGsu8EwifYVnMeGAOkYvJeNv5vkaCaNx\_
7. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20160417081441/http://www.popples.com/Home/Video