Viacom, Inc. (VIA), The Walt Disney Company (DIS), Hasbro, Inc. (HAS): Looking Beyond Transformers

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The digital age

Many pundits worry that the distractions of the digital age will pull children away from toy play. Hasbro plans to meet this concern head-on. Its acquisition of a majority interest in Backflip studios, an online gaming company, demonstrates Hasbro’s concern for the digital age’s impact on toy sales. In addition, Hasbro wants to produce a toy line under license from Sunrights based on B-DAMANan animated television series. The toys will come with codes for consumer access to exclusive content on the Internet.

Takeaway

Hasbro’s best bet lies in its ability to continually renew popularity of its core brands. Transformers 4 may yet again revive Hasbro, although it may face a less-than-stellar future beyond that. If Star Wars doesn’t live up to really high expectations, Hasbro may make less than the guaranteed royalty payments to The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS). Successful integration of digital technology to increase engagement could go a long way to enhancing top and bottom lines. Hasbro will need strong new ideas to complement its portfolio of strong brands. Otherwise, the company could underperform over the long term.

The article Hasbro: Looking Beyond Transformers originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by William Bias.

Fool contributor William Bias owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Hasbro, Mattel, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Hasbro and Walt Disney. 

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