Toy giant Hasbro announced this week that it will lay off 1,100 workers, around 20% of its staff.
Citing harsher-than-expected economic conditions, CEO Chris Cocks on Monday said the layoffs are necessary.
“While we have made some important progress across our organization, the headwinds we saw through the first nine months of the year have continued into the holiday and are likely to persist into 2024,” he said in a statement.
Most of Hasbro’s fired workers won’t lose their jobs immediately; they’ll be furloughed over the next six months.
The firings cap off a difficult year for the company, responsible for popular toys Magic: The Gathering, Transformers and Play-Doh.
In October, the company edited its full-year revenue guidance, making massive cuts to predictions before the holidays. The end of the year is typically a massive moneymaker for toy companies like Hasbro, but the company doesn’t expect this year’s holiday season sales to change much.
Previously this year the company announced 800 firings. Before the most recent layoffs, Hasbro had around 6,300 employees.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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