Quote: (Dwarf Supreme @ 28 Oct. 2008, 08:38 )
Quote: (javelin98 @ 28 Oct. 2008, 11:24 )
I'm wondering how long it might be before they get bought out by someone.  Hasbro could do it with their pocket change.
I don't see it happening. Sure Hasbro could easily buy GW, but do we really want that to happen? Look what happened to Avalon Hill when Hasbro bought it.
Oh, I certainly wouldn't say that I
want it to happen. But really... well, look at it like this.
I'm a high-powered Hasbro exec (not really, but it'd be nice) looking for the next step in growing the company, and I see a small gaming company struggling along. GW has a current market cap of £74m, or around $116m. Hasbro's revenue is huge; for the third quarter of 2008, they brought home $1.3
billion, with net earnings (profit) of $138.2 million. That's just in the
third quarter.
So, in order to buy every piece of outstanding stock in GW, and thereby take total ownership of the company, it would cost me, as Hasbro, just about three months' net earnings, and that's if there is a hostile takeover using just cash, rather than some kind of a stock swap deal. And there aren't really any angels or grey knights out there to try to stop me, as I
am the 800lb gorilla (that's a 362Kg gorilla for you metric types).
In return, I get their manufacturing facilities in Nottingham and Memphis, their stores, their existing inventory, their receivables, and most importantly, their intellectual property, including IP that has been largely neglected and left to rot for years in the underground catacombs of Tom Kirby's basement. 40K, WHFB, LOTR, Space Hulk, Epic 40K, BFG, Blood Bowl, Necromunda, Mordheim, Talisman, Dark Future, Mighty Empires, Man o' War, Space Crusade, Warhammer Quest, Judge Dredd, and lots of smaller titles -- all of these would become the property of Hasbro, delivering twenty years' worth of game development, designs, rules, molds, and fan base to Hasbro for just writing a check.
I'm honestly surprised that they haven't done this yet, but if Tom Kirby
et. al. continue to run GW into the ground, it may be in their near future. Maybe that's their plan -- get GW down to a point of being reasonably attractive to takeover, then negotiate stock packages for the BOD and top execs, who walk away fat and happy. Or fatter and happier.
So, yeah. We may not want it to happen, but it's a surprise it hasn't happened already.
DRM SoW, FWC, E/W, etc., etc. ... 
