eer John, Microprose dead?

[MarkG]

GoneGold is saying that accordin to a Microprose employee, Microprose is being shut down or something http://www.gonegold.com/

Any idea what is going on?
[This message has been edited by MarkG (edited December 09, 1999).]

[MarkG]

other news on the subject http://www.gamespot.co.uk/news/1999/12/4695.html
Company confirms Alameda and Chapel Hill studio shutdowns and talks about its next move.

[Sten Sture]

The press release for the investment community was substantially different than the Gold note. From the other things I have heard around the street, it would be very surprising if Microprose was going to be tremendously affected...

Sorry I can't link this story.

Hasbro to Cut 2,200 Jobs, Close 2 Plants to Cut Costs (Update3)
12/7/99 14:12 (New York)

Hasbro to Cut 2,200 Jobs, Close 2 Plants to Cut Costs (Update3)

(Adds factory locations in 2nd paragraph, investor comment
in 4th paragraph and per-share charge amount in 8th paragraph.)

Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Hasbro Inc.
will cut 2,200 jobs, close two plants and take fourth-quarter
charges totaling $97 million, as the world's second-biggest
toymaker shifts its focus to software and other electronic toys.
The moves will reduce Hasbro's workforce by 19 percent, and
include 1,850 manufacturing jobs. Hasbro is shutting a plant in
Tijuana, Mexico, that produces preschool toys such as Sit 'N Spin
and one in Ashford, England, that makes K-NEX construction toys.
Its toys include Pokemon trading cards and Furby dolls.
Chief Executive Alan Hassenfeld aims this year to double
sales of faster-growing electronic toys by making acquisitions
and converting traditional games such as Monopoly into software.
The timing of the restructuring -- during the Christmas season --
may indicate Hasbro won't meet profit forecasts because of
lagging demand for traditional toys, investors said. The fourth
quarter accounts for about 40 percent of Hasbro's annual sales.
``We're always worried when the announcement comes at this
time,'' said Erik Gustafson, senior vice president of Stein Roe &
Farnham, which owned 701,380 Hasbro shares as of September.
Hasbro shares fell 1 to 20 7/16 in midafternoon trading. The
stock has lost almost a third of its value since June.
The maker of Tonka trucks and Playskool toys expects fourth-
quarter profit before charges to be in line with forecasts. The
moves shouldn't affect estimates for next year, the company said.
Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based Hasbro is expected to earn
76 cents a share this quarter and $1.54 next year, the average
estimates of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Last year, it
had profit from operations of $131.8 million, or 98 cents, in the
fourth quarter, and $220 million, or $1.61, for the year.
The fourth-quarter charges will total 49 cents a share after
taxes. They include pretax charges of about $63 million for the
restructuring, $39 million for writing down assets and
$39 million to eliminate or pare back some product lines.
The moves are expected to generate pretax savings of about
$16 million next year and $23 million each year thereafter.

Stock Buyback

Hasbro also said it plans to buy another $500 million in
stock over the next few years after it completes a previous
repurchase program for the same amount. Hasbro has spent $415
million for more than 16 million shares for the first program,
started two years ago.
The company will discontinue some Formula One and Sound
Bites toys. Production at the Mexico plant will be shifted to
other Hasbro facilities and to Asian contractors, while the U.K.
plant's work will move to Spain, said company spokesman Wayne
Charness.
Some analysts said such restructuring moves had been
expected, and were already included in earnings forecasts for
next year, because Hasbro spends more to operate its business
than it needs to.
``It's an affirmation of what we had expected,'' said
analyst Hayley Kissel of Merrill Lynch & Co., who rates Hasbro's
shares ``buy.''

Interactive Products

Hasbro has been buying companies that make software-related
games and toys as demand for these products outpaces traditional
ones.
Last year, sales of infant/preschool toys fell 1.7 percent,
dolls fell 3.2 percent, action figures fell 13 percent and riding
toys such as bicycles fell 2 percent, according to Toy
Manufacturers of America Inc., an industry trade group.
In contrast, plush toys, which include interactive toys such
as Furby, rose 19 percent and video games rose 20 percent last
year, the New York-based group said.
In September 1998, Hasbro bought software maker MicroProse
Inc. In August, it added closely held Europress, a maker of
FunSchool and other educational software, to become the U.K.'s
No. 3 software publisher.
Next year, Hasbro plans to make games available on line at
its Games.com site, which is still in planning stages.
Its interactive unit is expected to generate about
$300 million in sales, or 7.5 percent of forecasts for about
$4 billion in revenue this year for Hasbro. Last year, the unit
had sales of $150 million, or about 4.6 percent of Hasbro's
$3.3 billion in revenue.
The company in October also bought closely held Wizards of
the Coast Inc. for about $325 million, adding the hot-selling
Pokemon trading cards to its Risk, Clue and other games.
Wizards makes the trading-card game, Magic: The Gathering,
as well as the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games. Hasbro
has said it expects Wizards to add about $125 million in sales in
the fourth quarter.
Hasbro Interactive is based in Beverly, Massachusetts, and
has offices in the U.K., Germany, Australia and Canada.

--Delbert Ellerton in Atlanta with reporting by
Anne Pollak in Princeton
Story illustration: HAS US GP D to graph the company's
recent stock performance.

Company news:
HAS US CN



[This message has been edited by Sten Sture (edited December 09, 1999).]

[Civfan]

Geez, never realize how big Hasbro was. Over 3 billion in sales, 131 million in profits....

[MarkG]

more or less what Sten posted...
http://cnnfn.com/1999/12/07/companies/hasbro/

[John Possidente]

Of course MicroProse is not dead. If we can survive the various (ahem) styles of management we've seen over our long and checkered history, we can weather this, too.

What really happened, as far as I've been able to find out, is that Hasbro, as part of some major cutbacks, also sliced off some pieces of Hasbro Interactive, which includes MicroProse. Our Alameda studio (which was once the quite respectable Spectrum Holobyte and which created all the Falcon games) is being closed down. So is our underappreciated Chapel Hill studio, which put out (among many others) Civ2MPGE and X-COM Interceptor. A substantial minority of the folks at our Beverly HQ were also let go, and some folks (I don't know yet who or how many) in our UK offices. The Hunt Valley studio, which was MicroProse in the beginning, remains untouched.

I don't honestly know yet what will happen to the various games those two studios were working on. This came as a surprise to all of us on the ground, and we're still sorting things out. On a site-specific note, Civ 3 will certainly not be affected.

If you'll forgive me a personal commentary, I'd like to say that yes, this came as a shock and I'm unhappy that good friends are losing their jobs and MicroProse is losing a lot of talented people. However, we've been through this sort of thing before (I think this is the tenth layoff I've "lived" through) and we always bounce back.

[techumseh]

Good luck, John.

[Sten Sture]

Thanks for the update John. And good luck -

I am quite surprised that HAS couldn't find places or projects for the Spectrum or Chapel Hill folks. That sounds like poor management and I'll raise the question with IR as a shareholder...


Here is an add on story for those following along...
(WIRE) Hasbro Cutbacks Claim Microprose Development Houses, Falc
12/10/99 13:33 (New York)

Franchise
Following Hasbro's [HAS] announcement yesterday that it will fire
more than 2k employees, an official tells mmWire that five to seven
percent of those firings will happen at two Hasbro Interactive
development studios, as the company phases out its higher-end
simulation titles.
Most cuts will come out of Hasbro Interactive's Alameda, Calif.
and Chapel Hill, N.C. Microprose studios. Hasbro's highly-touted yet
much-delayed Falcon 4.0 was developed by the Alameda crew, but did not
live up to the company's expectations. "Falcon 4.0 sold reasonably
well, but 'reasonably well' is not good enough in this marketplace,"
the official says. As a result, the Falcon series will be
discontinued.
Even the company's existing simulation franchises-namely Gunship-
will be toned down in the simulation department, with Gunship III more
closely resembling a 3D action game, the official says. "We want to
appeal to the Gunship audience, but have to also appeal to a broader
audience."
The cuts will allow Hasbro Interactive to focus more on marketing
resources for its catalog business, or titles that have been on the
market for more than one season, the official says. "We won't ship as
many titles in 2000 as we did this year," the official adds.
Meanwhile, Hasbro's job losses reflect the toy maker's move to
consolidate its manufacturing and sourcing activities and product
lines, the company says. Additionally, it will streamline its
marketing and sales and R&D activities worldwide. As a result, it
expects to incur about a $141m pre-tax charge for Q4.
Of the $141m, $63m goes to restructuring, $39m is in asset
writedowns, and another $39m related is related to discontinued
product lines (e.g. Microprose's Falcon series) and product lines with
reduced expectations. The company does not expect the news to affect
estimates for its next fiscal year.
The $63m in restructuring charge is expected to generate pre-tax
savings of about $39m in the next two years, Hasbro says. Q4 and full-
year financial results prior to the $141m in charges will be in line
with consensus expectations, it adds.
The company's board of directors has also authorized an
additional $500m stock repurchase program. The company has already
invested about $415m in repurchasing more than $16m shares under a
separate program authorized in December 1997. Hasbro closed yesterday
at 21-1/4 (? it was 20 1/8)

[St Leo]

Just out of interest, did MoM2 die with one of those studios?:-)

------------------
St. Leo
http://ziggurat.sidgames.com/
http://www.sidgames.com/forums/

[John Possidente]

Nope. Can't say more. Not public yet.

[Gelvan]

Well, DID MoM2 die?
And what about MoM1 - is this available ANYWHERE?

Edit: found it

[XarXo]

Is Microprose dead? Well, let's see what happens with Chris Carter.

[Sharpe]

I guess the answer is now , yes, Microprose is dead.... sigh. At least they produced a great gaming legacy.

[Zealot]

Is John Possidente still around?