Disney’s Affirmation of Hasbro

If you wondered if Hasbro’s decision to become a media company was a good one, Disney’s recent $4 billion acquisition of the Marvel is, at least to me, a resounding yes. 

I know that most commentators see this as a play by Disney to add some boy muscle to its line of entertainment properties.   They are right. Strong with girl’s properties (Hannah Montana, iCarly, etc.), Disney desperately needed something to attract boys. 

I think, however, that there was another reason. Disney sees Hasbro’s move into television via its joint venture with the Discovery Channel as, potentially, a serious threat to its entertainment franchise and wanted to blunt its impact by depriving it of Marvel’s male based content.  

Hasbro which has a strong licensing relationship with Marvel through 2017 had an inside track on Marvel content for its cable channel. Now, that is almost certainly off the table. 

Hasbro has moved into a new arena and its competition is taking it seriously…very seriously. I think that this is only round 1 and Hasbro has some strategic plans of its own. Stay tuned for this one, it’s going to get very interesting.