Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 262 Acquisition of Hasbro

Xu Xiaoming was born in a family of Cantonese opera. He is versatile and has a solid foundation. He is also a producer, director, actor, singer, and even administrative work. He is a typical all-rounder. The TV drama theme song prepared by "Fearless"?"

"Yes. In a few days, Li Xiaotian and Lu Guozhan should be able to come up with a sample. You and the crew can get a feel for it." Tang Huan rolled up the painting and put it in Xu Xiaoming's hand, "Of course, I just provide It’s a big policy, but the exact timing depends on you.”

……

With the strong performance of EA stock on Nasdaq, many media shouted "The Video Game Boom Is Boundless!" in unison - "The trend of games is boundless!", which can be described as extremely flattering.

I don’t even know when it started. News that EA was seeking to acquire traditional toy manufacturers suddenly began to spread, which caused the stock prices of many related companies to rise.

It can be seen that EA is now in the limelight, and it is so popular.

Of course, there must be Mattel, which does not sell EA's face, and has been making money through its own electronic game console Intellivision, suddenly issued a statement that it has no intention of changing the shareholding structure, and is not afraid of any hostile takeover.

As soon as the words fell, Goldman Sachs quickly clarified that he would not use the drastic method of hostile takeover, and its purpose has always been to provide customers with better development plans.

In short, it means that there is no righteousness in buying and selling. If you don't want to change the boss, don't bite around and ruin the name of our righteous angel of Goldman Sachs.

When investors took a look, they realized that there is no smoke without fire. EA is indeed seeking to acquire traditional toy manufacturers.

Someone immediately calculated based on public information that through this backdoor listing and financing, EA had at least US$[-] million in cash in hand after excluding various costs and balancing debt relationships.

Then the intention to acquire Mattel this time, as well as Mattel's vigilance against possible hostile takeovers, makes sense.

Really ungrateful, the stock market reacted immediately, EA's stock price rose slightly, and Mattel's stock price fell accordingly, so Mattel had to take the cash it earned from video game consoles and increase its holdings of stocks, lest it really It was acquired by a hostile takeover. After all, Goldman Sachs' guarantee is just a family statement. If EA suddenly finds another notorious thug, Morgan Stanley, it will be a tragedy.

For such a hot spot, it is natural that securities analysts, observers, etc. will gather on various financial programs to express their opinions and start discussions.

First of all, everyone has reached a consensus that EA, which has a lot of cash in its hands, must be seeking some acquisitions. Its CEO Hawkins has been silent on this, which can be corroborated from the side.

Secondly, everyone questioned whether it was correct for EA to go against the trend and try to acquire traditional toy manufacturers against the background of various investments flocking into the video game industry.

Being in the high-tech industry, doesn't EA plan to use this financing to develop new products?You know, Atari spent a total of 2600 million US dollars to develop the Atari [-], and other manufacturers also invested less.

In this regard, EA's supporters are very optimistic. EA may not have no new product development plan, but it has done a good job of keeping secrets.

Moreover, judging from the fact that EA's boss acquired Hollywood's United Artists and recently announced the development of the video game "007", it seems that they are following the path of horizontal resource integration.

If another traditional toy manufacturer is acquired, it will undoubtedly further expand its territory.

Everyone's high-pitched talk and conclusive appearance really touched the hearts of many investors, and they all speculated on the next target that EA might acquire in order to make a fortune from it.

……

Tang Huan didn't stay in Xiangjiang for too long. After seeing his aunt, he paid attention to Media Asia TV and the TV series "Huo Yuan Jia" by the way, and hurriedly escorted Guan Zhilin back to the United States in order to keep abreast of the progress of the acquisition.

As a result, he soon learned about the first official acquisition, but it was a failure.

Now Mattel is developing well, and it can participate in the video game boom in time, which shows that it is quite forward-looking in its business strategy.

As the saying goes, it is better to be a chicken head than an oxtail. Naturally, Mattel does not want to fall into the arms of EA, and their company headquarters is in El Segundo, California. If it is acquired, it will be easy for EA to dictate.

So no matter how Goldman Sachs promised Tang Huan that he would continue to trust the current management, it would not help.

In this way, the acquisition fell through, and the fearful Mattel also disclosed the news, making EA's acquisition plan known to the world.

It's clear that if EA plans to continue with its acquisition plans, costs will definitely increase.

For this, Tang Huan hated his teeth itching. Mattel, who harms others and does not benefit himself, really wants to hostilely buy you, but he doesn't want to give the outside world the impression that he is bullying. After all, it is very necessary to maintain a positive image now that the limelight is in full swing.

Currently, the president and CEO of Goldman Sachs are jointly held by two people, namely John Livingston Weinberg and John Cunningham Whitehead.

Among them, John Livingston Weinberg is the son of Sidney Weinberg, the last two senior partners of Goldman Sachs, and John Cunningham Whitehead, according to the historical development, Will be the Deputy Secretary of State in the next Reagan administration.

In 1976, when Levin, the previous senior partner of Goldman Sachs, passed away, the company's management committee decided that Weinberg and Whitehead would jointly serve as the successors of Goldman Sachs' industry.

At first, people on Wall Street were skeptical that the two-man leadership structure would cause chaos within the company.

But soon they found that their predictions were wrong, and the two newcomers cooperated tacitly, allowing Goldman Sachs to enter the ranks of the world's top investment banks.

The recently created EA wealth myth is one of the most dazzling performances. Is there anything better to explain the success of an investment company than a paper-based digital rich man worth 20 billion US dollars?
Naturally, Tang Huan has now become a star client of Goldman Sachs and has received the direct attention of the two presidents and CEOs Weinberg and Whitehead. The task of EA acquiring traditional toy manufacturers has been naturally handed over to Goldman Sachs.

Unexpectedly, the first battle was lost.For this reason, Whitehead made a special call to explain, "We will further adjust our negotiation strategy, and the next goal will definitely be successful."

What could Tang Huan say about such a professional matter? He just made a haha ​​and said "I hope so" as a reply.

As if to prove that it was not in vain, Goldman Sachs' acquisition of alternative targets was swift and decisive, and soon came the news that Hasbro Industries-Hasbro Company accepted the acquisition.

When this news was disclosed, many people who followed EA breathed a sigh of relief, and finally bet on the right treasure, and the stock market responded quickly and positively, and Hasbro's stock price rose slightly.

In fact, Hasbro is not doing very well right now. His peers are all vigorously investing in the video game industry, but he can only watch helplessly, with more than enough energy and insufficient energy.

Similar to Mattel’s husband and wife business, Hasbro was founded by a brother, Henry Hassenfeld and Helal Hassenfeld, and has a longer history. It was born in 1923. The original name was directly called Hassenfeld Brothers, selling textile scraps.

For the next 20 years, the company continued to produce pencil cases and school supplies.

After entering the 1940s, Hassenfeld Brothers launched its first set of toys, doctor and nurse kits-doctors and nurses, and began to become a toy company.

In 1952, Hassenfeld Brothers' opportunity came. It bought the toy Mr. Potato Head from the inventor George Lerner. Successful toys, and became Disney's main licensing partner in 1954.

This good momentum continued in the 1960s. In 1964, Hassenfeld Brothers successfully launched the world's first doll, namely GIJOE-Special Forces.

Mr. Potato Head and GIJOE brought great benefits to Hassenfeld Brothers, which is favored by investors.

In 1968, Hassenfeld Brothers changed its name to Hasbro Industries—Hasbro Factory, which was publicly listed on the American Stock Exchange, which is what Tang Huan now sees as Hasbro.

This was followed by Hasbro's first major acquisition in 1969, when it bought television programming company Burt Claster Enterprises, which produced Romper Room, an extremely long-running children's TV show.

However, Hasbro was not so lucky after that.

Also in 1969, as the American people opposed the Vietnam War, the sales of GIJOE toys were inevitably affected.

Hasbro had to redesign it, reducing military colors and increasing elements of adventure, and played a new slogan "Boy Oh Boy! Its A Hasbro Toy!" through TV and print advertisements -- "Boy Oh Boy! It's just a Hasbro toy!", trying to reverse people's old impressions.

In addition, a month-long truck driver strike and supplier problems in the Far East caused Hasbro to lose $100 million that year.

Coupled with the rising prices of raw materials such as plastics caused by the oil crisis in the 1970s, Hasbro's life became even more difficult.

By 1977, Hasbro had lost $250 million and was still heavily in debt.

The house leak happened in the night rain, the CEO of Hasbro, the second generation of the Hassenfeld family, Merrill Hassenfeld passed away in 1979, and his son Stephen D. Hassenfeld was questioned about his ability when he succeeded the chairman of the board of directors and CEO .

After an infighting, Hasbro split off the loss-making toy business in 1980, and the remaining pencil business became Empire Pencil, and Stephen D. Hassenfeld was able to succeed as chairman of the board and CEO.

In the past two years, Hasbro has been living on the capital of the toy Mr. Potato Head, while also doing some low-risk small businesses. It lives cautiously, while its peers have seized the opportunity of the rise of the video game industry. , life is booming, it can be described as the situation of ice and fire.

When Goldman Sachs approached him secretly, Stephen Hassenfeld struggled a bit, and finally surrendered.

As promised, Tang Huan allowed Stephen Hasenfeld to continue as his CEO, and the company name was changed from Hasbro Industries to Hasbro. EA, which bucked the trend, found a reliable partner in the toy field.

During Hasbro's meeting, Tang Huan was thoughtful. It seemed that "My Little Pony" and "Transformers" would eventually be implemented on Hasbro's head. In the palm of my hand.

……

To be honest, Tang Huan is not very satisfied with the acquisition target of Hasbro, because its toy audience is relatively young.

But other traditional toy manufacturers are rushing to be the trendsetters in the video game industry. In particular, in order to resist possible hostile takeovers, Mattel disclosed EA’s movements in the capital market. Then he changed, feeling how great he was, as if he was dragging two to five to eighty thousand.

EA, which plans to enter the field of traditional toys, does not have many choices if it does not want to be taken advantage of. Therefore, Hasbro, which is in a difficult situation, has become the first choice.

As far as Hasbro’s existing management is concerned, because its headquarters is located in Providence, Rhode Island in the northeastern United States, even if it is acquired, it can be regarded as the real sky high and the emperor far away. EA’s commitment to decentralization, It is more believable from an objective point of view.

Of course, the so-called sky is high and the emperor is far away, only in terms of geographical distance from Silicon Valley, Providence, founded in 1636, is one of the oldest cities in the United States, and Brown University, one of the Ivy League schools, is located Here, its economy is actually very developed.

After Hasbro fell into the arms of EA, the immediate benefit is that the accumulated debts are paid for, and the future development funds must be sufficient.

As the saying goes, if you eat people's mouths softly and take others' hands short, Tang Huan naturally received the highest standard of entertainment from Hasbro from top to bottom.

He did not come empty-handed, but brought a batch of Fangyuan computers.

Obviously, like Hollywood’s United Artists, although Hasbro has been empowered, its information management must keep up. In other words, its supervision has been strengthened.

Stephen Hasenfeld, who was questioned about his ability and qualifications before, is 39 years old this year. Under his leadership, Hasbro, which was originally a space-time company, grew at an astonishing rate in the 1980s, as high as 80.00%. It once surpassed Mattel. Its excellence dwarfs even Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and the Walton family's Wal-Mart.

Sadly, Stephen Hassenfeld passed away untimely in the late 1980s.

For this point, Tang Huan had to show enough respect to Stephen Hasenfeld, who is now down and down, so everyone got along far better than expected.

Now Hasbro’s profit mainly depends on Mr.Potato Head—Mr. Egghead. As for GI Joe—special forces, due to the impact of the anti-Vietnam War, it has not slowed down until now. The acquired TV program company Claster Television, Its children's programs such as Romper Room have a good influence.

But this is also where Tang Huan is secretly dissatisfied. It is obvious that the toy audience is too young. Fortunately, he is not short of money now. Through continuous investment, Hasbro can reach its goal in the next few years. requirements, thereby supporting EA through the inevitable collapse of home video game consoles in North America.

After listening to various reports, Tang Huan said: "Judging from the operation effect of the toy brands acquired by Hasbro in the past, the multi-brand strategy is still very successful. It is somewhat similar to the independent production model of a film company. It wins at one stroke, so , I think we can continue to build on that.”

Speaking of this, Tang Huan looked at Stephen Hasenfeld with a slight smile, and waved his hand generously, "If Hasbro has any promising targets, just report them, and I will support you."

If you have money, you are an uncle, you can buy it if you want, Stephen Hasenfeld, who smiled wryly in his heart, nodded repeatedly.

"GI Joe's sluggishness should come to an end. It's time to redesign and put it on the market." Tang Huan pondered that in the original time and space of the 1980s, the toy of special forces could make a comeback, which may not necessarily be the same as Reagan's tough policies. Never mind that the Star Wars program inevitably sparked interest in military-themed toys enough to offset the slump sparked by anti-Vietnam War sentiments that had grown up years earlier.

(End of this chapter)