Mad Money

Hasbro CEO describes the serious boost eSports are giving his business

Key Points
  • "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer checks in with Hasbro Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner following the toy maker's second-quarter earnings report.
  • Goldner said that eSports and Twitch TV are gaining notable traction in the gaming space.
  • The CEO also justified Wall Street's muted response to Hasbro's second-quarter report.
Hasbro CEO: The boost from eSports
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Hasbro CEO: The boost from eSports

The rapidly growing "stay-at-home economy" lends itself to online gaming, and Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said that his company is no stranger to the millions of players joining the trend.

"Both 'Magic: The Gathering' and 'Dungeons & Dragons' are on our Twitch programming," Goldner told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer on Monday, referring to a popular online platform meant for live-streaming gameplay. "About a million people a month are watching Magic tournaments online."

Goldner said that the "Dungeons & Dragons" brand has seen a "resurgence," with millions of viewers tuning in to Hasbro's specialty Twitch channel for the fantasy role-playing game.

Despite a fairly light second quarter for Hasbro, the rekindled interest could have been caused in part by Netflix's nostalgic, 1980s-set hit drama "Stranger Things," in which the characters play "Dungeons & Dragons."

The fusion of the traditional board game with the world of online gaming was part of Hasbro's effort to "[use] eSports and the Twitch audience that are very supportive of these brands" to boost their visibility and clout in the gaming space, Goldner added.

On top of those developments, Goldner said that mobile gaming was also in focus for the toy company, which, in addition to its fantasy games, distributes toys for Disney as well as its own "My Little Pony" and "Transformers" franchises.

"We'll talk with our analysts next week about our 'Magic Digital Next' platform, where we're launching the next generation of 'Magic' online play," Goldner told Cramer, referring to Hasbro's Investor Day on August 3. "'Magic' is a very powerful brand online. We need to build a bigger platform, [a] more robust platform, and we've been at that for a while and we're going to show our analysts just how we're going to launch this."

As for Wall Street's tepid response to Hasbro's Tuesday earnings report, which only slightly topped analyst estimates, Goldner said that the second quarter is typically light for the company.

Goldner pointed to the various events on Hasbro's roster that will likely bring in gains for the company, including a "My Little Pony" film in October, another "Star Wars" film in December, and a "Frozen" special slated for the holidays.

"The third and fourth quarters represent a much bigger proportion of our total business and we expect still a very strong year. We've told people that we expect great growth," the CEO said. "So, from strength to strength."

Watch the full segment: Hasbro CEO on online gaming

Hasbro CEO describes the serious boost eSports are giving his business
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Hasbro CEO describes the serious boost eSports are giving his business

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