The toy company had acquired the Canadian entertainment company in 2019 for $4 billion
Only three years after acquiring the majority of Entertainment One, Hasbro has decided to sell the TV and film businesses of the Canadian multinational, but keeping IPs of enormous value, such as Peppa Pig, My Little Pony and others.
The purchase in December 2019 for 4,000 million dollars was quickly regretted by Hasbro, which is suspected of having overpaid for the entertainment company and its bookstore of more than 6,500 titles.
Just three years later. Hasbro considers, according to analysts and a request from its investors, that in order to develop franchises based on its main properties it is convenient to reduce the size of the company in the TV and film businesses.
So let eOne go, but not before taking at least some very valuable brands from the Canadian company’s original portfolio, such as Peppa Pig.
“It makes a lot of sense to scale down eOne, as there are a number of secondary assets within that business that don’t necessarily fit on Hasbro’s flywheel,” Eric Handler of MKM Partners told The Hollywood Reporter. The analyst added that Hasbro will rely on production deals with studios, streaming platforms and top Hollywood talent. “They just need to maintain enough infrastructure and staff to steer Hasbro IP toward successful movie or TV projects,” Handler says.
In a previous instance, Hasbro has already sold eOne’s music business for $385 million.
On eOne’s TV and movie businesses, Chris Cocks, Hasbro’s newly installed CEO, said he had received “incoming interest” from “multiple parties” for eOne’s TV and movie interests, that “while it’s valuable It is not central to our strategy going forward.”
Cocks also shared that Hasbro’s $4 billion acquisition, made in 2019, had “offered fantastic talent, top-tier production and deal-closing ability, and beloved brands with strong toy potential.
“We will retain these excellent capabilities as we explore how best to maximize the value of eOne’s film and television business for the benefit of our shareholders,” said Cocks.
