Hasbro issued a letter to its shareholders encouraging them to vote against Alta Fox’s nominees to the board of directors at the upcoming meeting on June 8.
The letter states that the Alta Fox hedge fund and its five nominees “lack an understanding of Hasbro’s business, including, most significantly, Wizards.” It says the proxy fight is ill-timed and the Alta Fox agenda will not create value for shareholders. The letter continually explains how CEO Chris Cocks doubled the size of WotC’s business over three years and should be the one to lead the way. It also states that Hasbro has invested more than $1 Billion into WotC in just the past five years.
Alta Fox Capital Management, an alternative asset management firm with a 2.5% stake in Hasbro, launched its campaign to attempt to get five nominees on the Hasbro Board of Directors and spin-off WotC back in February. Hasbro officially rejected the offer in early April and added two new board members.
The letter goes into detail on why all five Alta Fox board nominees aren’t fit to hold the positions stating, “Alta Fox’s nominees lack corporate and business experience across consumer products, entertainment and gaming, all of which are critical to Hasbro’s long-term success.” It says the nominees have limited qualifications and if any were added to the board “they would only serve to disrupt and distract the Company from executing its strategic plans for the future of Hasbro.”
Each nominee gets picked apart in the letter with MTG Hall-Of-Famer Jon Finkel described as having “absolutely no experience in leadership roles at corporate companies.” The full summary of Finkel reads:
Jon Finkel has absolutely no experience in leadership roles at corporate companies. He is first and foremost a gamer and fan and does not have experience in driving growth and strategic value at digital gaming companies, smartly allocating capital or delivering returns for shareholders. We welcome his passion for our products, but passion for a couple of product lines does not qualify him to sit on our Board.
Hasbro, Inc.
The letter concludes with the clear message of “Reject the Alta Fox Nominees – Vote FOR Hasbro’s Board of Directors.”
Read the full letter from Hasbro.