Hasbro has had quite a big week. After becoming the Ghostbusters toy partner and going for plastic-free toy packaging now it bought Peppa Pig for $4 billion.
Yes, that’s billion with a B. For that amount, Hasbro is also getting Entertainment One’s toy business, along with the popular animated character.
Hasbro plans to move a “significant portion” of Entertainment One’s toy business in-house. This means that many of the current and future toys of eOne will be under the Hasbro brand. Of course, PJ Masks and Ben and Holly’s Magic Kingdom also join Hasbro with the purchase.
As a result Hasbro hopes it will be able to further ramp up the profitability of licensing and merchandising. The top executives of eOne will move to Hasbro. The goal of these moves is to cut $130 million in costs by 2022.
“Hasbro will leverage Entertainment One’s immersive entertainment capabilities to bring our portfolio of brands that have appeal to gamers, fans and families to all screens globally and realise full franchise economics across our blueprint strategy for shareholders,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro chairman and chief executive.
Up until now Jazwares and Character Options have been master toy partners for Entertainment One’s Peppa Pig property in the US and UK respectively. That would likely come to an end as the contracts expire.
Hasbro aims to increase the popularity of Peppa Pig and other eOne brands in the US. The company can leverage the fact that Peppa Pig turns 15 years old this year. So, that’s a nice reason to market it more along with new toys.
