For years Hasbro and Mattel are each other’s biggest competitor in the toy world. Now Hasbro wants to put an end by actually buying Mattel.
The news has been making the rounds over the weekend. It started from big names like the New York Times and now is quite interesting.
Hasbro has made the takeover bid in the last few months. The company is taking advantage of Mattel’s situation which isn’t all that great.
Mattel has had trouble this year as the company can’t revive its stock. The company lost about 52% of the value of its stock over the past year. This made Hasbro the biggest toy company all while its shares increased 8%.
Mattel has further issues after the bankruptcy filing of Toys R Us. The toy store chain owes at least $135 million to Mattel, more than twice what it owes Hasbro. This effects Mattel’s overall financial results a lot.
All of this prompted Hasbro to send a bid to acquire Mattel. NY Times sources don’t say a lot though. It’s unclear what was the exact offer or whether Mattel was actually interested or dismissed it immediately. What seems to be clear is that at least for now the deal won’t happen.
This is not the first time the two companies have has such talks. Time certainly has a sense of irony. More than two decades ago Mattel did the same and wanted to buy Hasbro. Back then Hasbro managed to escape the so-called hostile takeover saying it would never pass antitrust checks. Such can be a problem today as Hasbro and Mattel are the two biggest toy makers in the world and their consolidation might not sit down well with regulators.
In any case, for now seemingly nothing more will happen and Barbie and Hot Wheels will not join Hasbro. Still, it’s telling how the world of toys is changing all the time.
