[BlazeKing]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/b...dner-dead.html

Quote:

Hasbro announced late Tuesday that Brian Goldner, its longtime chief executive who has been credited with helping the toymaker expand into international markets and building ties with the entertainment industry, died at age 58, two days after he went on medical leave.

Mr. Goldner disclosed in August 2020 that he was being treated for cancer. He joined Hasbro in 2000, and was named chief executive in 2008 and chairman in 2015.

The company’s interim chief executive, Rich Stoddart, described Mr. Goldner as “the heart and soul of Hasbro.” Edward M. Philip, the company’s lead independent director, said Mr. Goldner’s “inspiring leadership and exuberance left an indelible mark on everything and everyone he touched.”

Over the past 10 years, Hasbro’s revenue has grown to overcome that of its rival Mattel, reaching $5.5 billion in 2020.

Hasbro’s range of products includes Monopoly, My Little Pony and Transformers. Mr. Goldner was lauded for expanding the company’s reach into Hollywood with deals that turned properties like G.I. Joe and Battleship into movies and television programs.

“It’s a core-brand strategy,” Mr. Goldner told The New York Times in 2012. “We asked which brands have the potential to be reinvented and reignited.”

Turning its intellectual properties into entertainment franchises paid off for the toymaker. “Our four movies made $3 billion at the box office,” he said at the time. “But we made $1.6 billion in sales of merchandise because we own the I.P. and all the merchandising rights.”

At points in recent years, Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., was said to have been in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation, and Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls.

More recently, Hasbro has introduced an e-commerce site where it can offer fans ways to order limited-edition toys.

This is a HEAVY blow to the community at-large.