Hasbro, the owner of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering via Wizards of the Coast has made the decision to lay off 1,100 employees, in a move described as a “lever we need to pull to keep Hasbro healthy.”
The decision was announced via an internal memo from CEO Chris Cocks (thanks, Dicebreaker). “I know this news is especially hard during the holidays, there is no sugar-coating how hard this is, especially for the employees directly affected.” wrote Cocks.
Cocks earned a salary of $1.5 million last year and took home $9.4 million in compensation. It does not appear that there are expected to be any cuts to his salary, bonuses or compensation.
In October, Gina Goettier, Hasbro’s CFO, said the company was on track to meet gross cost savings targets earlier than expected. Cocks further explained the decision, writing: “To position Hasbro for growth, we must first ensure that our fundamentals are solid and profitable. To do that, we need to modernize our organization and become even leaner. We have decided to communicate now so that people have time to plan and digest the changes.”
Those who will be laid off will be notified in the next 6 months, with a smaller portion of those 1,100 being released before the end of the year, while most will still have jobs until 2024. It is unclear whether Wizards of the Coast will be hugely affected by this move, but even as the video game industry has seen major layoffs this year, it does not appear that other industries are doing much better.