Filed in Rhode Island on Jan. 21, the executives—CEO Chris Cox, several current and former board members, and former Wizards of the Coast president Cynthia Williams—are being sued by Joseph Crocono and Altan McGlone, who have owned shares since early 2020. The pair claim that comments made during Hasbro’s shareholder call between 2021 and 2023 were “materially false and misleading…[and] The company suffered huge losses by repurchasing its own shares at artificially inflated prices.
with citing a reference of Magic Popular among collectors, the 76-page suit notes that the cards can command “upwards of thousands of dollars on the secondary market.” To further solidify its claims, the lawsuit highlights a 2022 report from Bank of America that warned of “oversupply.” Magic The cards “have boosted Hasbro’s recent results but are destroying the long-term value of the brand.” Thus, the company was able to repurchase 1.4 million shares for $125 million between April and July 2022, leaving it with $55.9 million more to pay.
Magic the Gathering Players have seen Hasbro’s aggressive efforts with bigger brands in recent years due to the Universe Beyond and Secret Lair crossovers. Hasbro hasn’t been shy in earnings calls about how well these sets have performed, such as congratulating Beyond final Fantasy Set in 2025 when it was a big revenue driver for the company. It is believed that the higher production cards (specifically from September 2023 to October 2023) allowed the company to offset shortages elsewhere in its business, as it would cost less to make new cards than to make new ones.
The lawsuit comes just weeks before Hasbro’s earnings call on February 10, where it will disclose financial performance Magic the Gathering During the previous financial year and quarter. At the time of writing, the company has not commented publicly on the lawsuit, and io9 has reached out for comment.
[via Polygon and GoLocalProv]
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