NEWS

Hasbro defeats boardroom challenge

Published on: 9th June 2022

Hasbro has won the proxy dispute with investor Alta Fox defeating a boardroom challenge and seeing all 13 of its directors re-elected.

Hasbro‘s annual shareholder meeting took place on Wednesday, where activist investor Alta Fox attempted to persuade shareholders to enforce a dramatic change in the makeup of the Hasbro boardroom. Instead, all the directors proposed by Hasbro were re-elected.

“Hasbro’s board of directors would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support and engagement, as well as the invaluable views and perspectives they have shared with us over these last several months,” read a statement from Hasbro. “As the vote indicates, our highly skilled and recently refreshed board possesses experience and expertise directly relevant to overseeing Hasbro’s world class portfolio of assets across multiple play and entertainment categories.”

Alta Fox had called for shareholder support to encourage Hasbro to spin off its gaming division; a move it claimed would unlock shareholder value. However, Hasbro’s re-elected board remained steadfast in its belief that spinning off the gaming division was not necessary in order to realize shareholder value at the company.

The result will be seen as a victory for Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, who became the company’s chief executive in January this year following the death of CEO Brian Goldner. Chris had previously served as president and COO of the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming division.

Alta Fox expressed disappointment with the outcome of the annual meeting vote in its own statement and added that it would ‘remain an engaged shareholder.’

Its statement reads: “We thank our fellow shareholders for their thoughtful engagement and support throughout this year’s election contest. After five consecutive years of underperformance relative to the S&P 500 and an even longer period of questionable corporate governance, Alta Fox believed targeted boardroom change was necessary at the onset of a new chief executive officer’s tenure.”

 

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