Hasbro Fights Off Alta Fox, Doesn’t Spin Off D&D Publisher
WotC will remain part of Hasbro, for the time being, as Hasbro investors reject Alta Fox proposal and board nominees in a proxy fight.
The battle between Alta Fox Capital Management LLC and Hasbro has come to an end for now. This past week, shareholders at Hasbro voted, “by a substantial margin” to re-elect the company’s 13 directors to the board, per a Hasbro Inc. statement. Last week represented Alta Fox’s latest salvo: an attempt to elect one director to the company’s board after trying to install five, then three.
Here’s a look.
Hasbro Fights Off Alta Fox
Hasbro and Alta Fox have been facing each other down since early this year. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC. launched a campaign calling for a new board of directors at Hasbro as well as D&D publisher WotC to be spun off into its own entity.
Alta Fox has wanted to mine the “hidden gem” of Hasbro, creating a tax-free spin-off that it claimed would increase its stock price by up to $100. The company also proposed a list of new board members, including a professional Magic player they felt might be more in line with WotC’s audience.
Last week’s win gives newly appointed CEO Chris Cocks, formerly president of WotC, an opportunity to take the reins uncontested. As Cocks stated back in March, he hopes to bring toy, digital, and entertainment businesses together. His plan seems to follow with WotC’s new role as “digital shepherds” for all of Hasbro’s endeavors.
“As the vote indicates, our highly skilled and recently refreshed board possesses experience and expertise directly relevant to overseeing Hasbro’s world-class portfolio of assets across multiple play and entertainment categories.”
Alta Fox has promised to “maintain a dialogue” with the board in order to create a culture of accountability as the company moves forward. In the meantime, Hasbro and WotC will move on together.
