Hasbro Cuts 140 U.S. Based Jobs

I don't have children, but I do have a small army of nieces and nephews. Like most middle class kids these days, they have owned a mountain of evolving toys from the time they were little babies. Far more than I ever had as middle class kid growing up, in fact. I've always kind of wondered how they could possibly have found the time to play with them all. I'm not complaining, mind you. Just an observation.

Thinking about it, I guess it makes sense that a decline in toy sales would be yet another indicator of a lingering economic malaise. Here is Reuters with the story:

Hasbro Inc (HAS.O) is cutting about 170 jobs as the second-largest U.S. toy company tries to recover from sluggish sales during the holiday season.

Eighty-two percent, or 140, of the job cuts are in the United States, according to company spokesman Wayne Charness, including "about 55" in Rhode Island where Hasbro is based.

"These moves were made to address both the under-performance in the U.S. and Canada segment, and the need for different skill sets in the company's workforce to be better aligned with a quickly evolving business," Charness said.

"The need for different skill sets...to be better aligned with a quickly evolving business?" You make TOYS, for fuck's sake. Corporate FlackSpeak at its finest.

Anyway, check out the officially stated reason for the layoffs:

The maker of Nerf foam toys and Monopoly board games suffered from weak post-Thanksgiving demand, especially for its games and puzzles, in the United States and Canada.

But...but...but...we were all told that the holiday sales were great! How can that be?

Just more of the damnable lies we insist upon telling ourselves.


Bonus: It was a LONG way down in artistic integrity from being lead singer in one of the coolest bands in the world to being a fucking judge on American Idol