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 Breotan wrote:

GBL wrote:

 Breotan wrote:

 Jidmah wrote:
I honestly think that Wizards of the Coast would be the best thing that could possibly happen to WH40k.

I don't. WotC really has a horrible track record with anything other than Magic. Their business model is set up to drive cardboard crack, not support the well being of a line of plastic model kits that aren't expected to simply "phase out" after a two year product cycle.

Forcing constant updates.
Screwy prices.
Terrible FAQ's and rule consistency.

Match made in heaven(hell)

Still, ya gotta admit that in these areas WotC and GW are pikers compared to WizKids. Speaking of WizKids, how are they doing? Oh, yea, they essentially closed shop after being an anchor around Topps' neck for half a decade.

I would agree with you, but in my eyes wizkids major failing was that they were unable to get me to purchase product in the first place. Both GW and WoTC had me bite long enough to lose hundreds of dollars before realizing how terrible the game/community/prices/support really were.

Breaking News: GW is now selling Citadel FineShares.

It wouldn't surprise me if GW is being sold to a big highstreet toys company such as Hasbro, just look at how GW has been focusing solely on marketing to kids nowadays, dumbing down White Dwarf, rules, fluff and creating Hasbro-esque big miniatures.

It'd be interesting to see something happen, but until theres an announcement..................

BrotherVord wrote:
I'm pretty sure that a publicly traded company can't keep a closed sale a secret once the transaction has been inked and signed by the involved parties. It's one thing to say that they're close to a deal, it's another to say the deal is done and they're not saying anything. I'm pretty sure that the latter would be illegal for a dozen reasons.

This. As far as I'm concerned, this thread should be closed. Nothing more to say.

For:

GW has been in some investment news articles recently(last 2 years), talking about its strong growth, resilience to market conditions etc.

GW has placed itself in a great position for a buyout with one man stores, lower costs and higher returns.

No (real) price rise this year to stave off negative publicity.

Hobbit expected to take GW stock higher for the next few years.

Short of the deal being inked, there is no need to talk to everyone. As far as we know this could simply be a deal penned to bring up at the next board meeting. They could be moving quietly to not push the share price above what the potential buyer can pay.

Against:

Investment forums don't seem to be buzzing like they should if this is legit. If anyone got word, it would have been an investor, who would have been smart to tell all his friends, buy up more shares and wait for the buyout offer.


This has merit theoretically. Would love to see some proof, or a press release that even nods at this before I will think it is true.

Mentions of Hasbro sounds like internet echoes - there's been a minimum of 15 years of rumours about Hasbro being interested in buying GW.

With Hasbro comes Space Marine action figures! Pew Pew [censored]!

THIS JUST IN!


The world may or may not end.


Pretty much has more of a basis than GW being sold.

 IJW wrote:
Mentions of Hasbro sounds like internet echoes - there's been a minimum of 15 years of rumours about Hasbro being interested in buying GW.

Was going to say, I heard this rumour at least 7-8 years ago (the other name being thrown around being 'Bandai').

Not so much the guy who has written this article, but the bloggers 'Farmpunk' and 'Sandworm' add credence in the comments section (those guys have usually had their finger on the pulse in the past).

Yes the signs do point to it as a possibility (in that you can attribute some of the recent changes in policy by GW to be building up to something like this), but that's all at this point.

linnear wrote:
You better be careful when you actually know what you are talking about. You make too much sense. :-)

Unlike you.

GW is setting itself up for a sale? You know GW doesn't own itself, right? The largest shareholder is some investment group called The Nomad Investment Partnership LP and they only have 15.7%.

Sorry, but you do understand that an executive team with the board can indeed prepare a company for leveraged buyout? The board and the executive are obligated to maximize shareholder value. If they can prepare a publicly held firm for a buyout and they deem it profitable, they can and do prepare a company for sale. Stock buy outs are extremely common. Public doesn't mean "not for sale."

I heard that walmart is buying GW.


Source: Dakkanuts

I still say something is going on behind the scenes.

Several weeks ago I was up at Warhammer World and there were several guys in suits being shown around GWHQ by staff in a "what's all this about then?" type thing. I pegged it as a little odd as GWHQ is not exactly known for "random passer-by" traffic like a normal GW store is.

Potential investors perhaps?

And guys, stop with the twatty comments about random companies buying GW. They add nothing to the thread and just make you look like a boorish idiot with nothing to say other than an irrelevant comment.

I'm sure Solo will come along in a minute to tell us this is not news...

This is absolute rubbish and suffers from a delusional misunderstanding of how companies work.

Firstly, if an agreement has been made, it has be legally and officially communicated to all the stockholders.

Secondly, even if someone had done the dirty and made an agreement but had yet to reveal it, the company is owned by the current shareholders. That's a lot of people.

That would mean that you'd need a substantial number of shareholders to have already agreed to transfer their stock for an agreed price, and then hope that enough other people sell it to you. That in turn means that it can't just be a done deal with kirby and some giant organisation, they'd have to have other major shareholders on board.

And considering how many of those shareholders are investment companies with everything to lose and who have far bigger fish to fry than GW, I don't see them risking everything on Mr Kirby's word.

So, this is this a shameless advert for a personal blog hidden under the guise of an insightful analysis?

How new.

 Pacific wrote:

 IJW wrote:
Mentions of Hasbro sounds like internet echoes - there's been a minimum of 15 years of rumours about Hasbro being interested in buying GW.

Was going to say, I heard this rumour at least 7-8 years ago (the other name being thrown around being 'Bandai').

Not so much the guy who has written this article, but the bloggers 'Farmpunk' and 'Sandworm' add credence in the comments section (those guys have usually had their finger on the pulse in the past).

Yes the signs do point to it as a possibility (in that you can attribute some of the recent changes in policy by GW to be building up to something like this), but that's all at this point.

Ironically the big push for Black Reach was to have a game people could play off the shelf. There was a push to have black reach sold at stores like toys are us. Even then the "Hazbro" rumors persisted. THis is not really new news but it would not suprise me to see it happen.

Have not read the article but heard that for the first time Gw will not be increasing the price of the products they make this year. The only price increases will be with brushes and paints which they dont make.

Is this the final hoorah!

Yeah I think someone put two and two together and made five, and its stuff we've known about for a while, so moving it over to Discussions.

 Vivster wrote:
Have not read the article but heard that for the first time Gw will not be increasing the price of the products they make this year. The only price increases will be with brushes and paints which they dont make.

Is this the final hoorah!

That is if you don't count the price increase with each new codex/update. But, in betting a lot for that trick.

 Pacific wrote:

 IJW wrote:
Mentions of Hasbro sounds like internet echoes - there's been a minimum of 15 years of rumours about Hasbro being interested in buying GW.

Was going to say, I heard this rumour at least 7-8 years ago (the other name being thrown around being 'Bandai').

An ex-west coast regional manager told me that Hasbro had approached GW 3-4 times in the past. Last being during the LotR boom years which matches your claim. Claimed they never went far and GW always said "No thanks". This was several years ago.

Person telling me the current rumor mentioned the same previous approached by Hasbro but said GW's response this time was, "We're listening". Might be still be complete bull, but the current behavior does match behavior of a company gearing itself up for sale.

As for major shareholders knowing, they don't. That would be insider trading. They will find out when we find out. They however get to vote on accepting the buyout or rejecting the buyout. If there is talks going on, they are working out how much Hasbro would pay for the company and for each held share. There is likely a group of accountants pouring over GWs records looking at all the sales and volume of the last several years.

Also, if there is a buyout, don't start singing, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead". By them buying it, that means they like what they see and will keep the current management in place for the next couple years while they transition over. Worse, you may see Kirby have expanded influence and reach should they merge WotC and GW. Not over WotC whole, but several WotC divisions may be merged with GW like their Avalon Hill line.

*edit* Just to add, Nomad and Ruffer both increased their shares in the last couple weeks. That explains the latest uptick.

GBL wrote:

 Breotan wrote:

 Jidmah wrote:
I honestly think that Wizards of the Coast would be the best thing that could possibly happen to WH40k.

I don't. WotC really has a horrible track record with anything other than Magic. Their business model is set up to drive cardboard crack, not support the well being of a line of plastic model kits that aren't expected to simply "phase out" after a two year product cycle.

Forcing constant updates.
Screwy prices.
Terrible FAQ's and rule consistency.

Match made in heaven(hell)

Is this describing GW or WotC? Genuine question.

GBL wrote:
GW has been in some investment news articles recently(last 2 years), talking about its strong growth, resilience to market conditions etc.

Good news: GW finally does advertising.
Bad news: It is to sell the company, not its products

 Ketara wrote:
This is absolute rubbish and suffers from a delusional misunderstanding of how companies work.

Firstly, if an agreement has been made, it has be legally and officially communicated to all the stockholders.

Unless the "Agreement" is a handshake agreement to pen something official. Which you acknowledge here:

 Ketara wrote:

Secondly, even if someone had done the dirty and made an agreement but had yet to reveal it, the company is owned by the current shareholders. That's a lot of people.

So it has to be a good price, one that they may be sniffing around the shareholders to discover a good buyout price.

 Ketara wrote:

That would mean that you'd need a substantial number of shareholders to have already agreed to transfer their stock for an agreed price, and then hope that enough other people sell it to you. That in turn means that it can't just be a done deal with kirby and some giant organisation, they'd have to have other major shareholders on board.

There's about 7% on the board itself. As mentioned above, another firm has 15% That's just a couple of stops for over 20% But again, this is something that happens after the paper has ink on it.

 Ketara wrote:

And considering how many of those shareholders are investment companies with everything to lose and who have far bigger fish to fry than GW, I don't see them risking everything on Mr Kirby's word.

Actually there has been a little bit of uncertainty with GW shares recently, if the buyout turns GW shares into Hasbro shares, or exceeds the current GW share price, then it is a net gain.

I agree that there is no evidence.

I agree that we got this information from the wrong source.

But that doesn't make it impossible, or even unlikely.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Dendarien wrote:

GBL wrote:

 Breotan wrote:

 Jidmah wrote:
I honestly think that Wizards of the Coast would be the best thing that could possibly happen to WH40k.

I don't. WotC really has a horrible track record with anything other than Magic. Their business model is set up to drive cardboard crack, not support the well being of a line of plastic model kits that aren't expected to simply "phase out" after a two year product cycle.

Forcing constant updates.
Screwy prices.
Terrible FAQ's and rule consistency.

Match made in heaven(hell)

Is this describing GW or WotC? Genuine question.

Both

 Alkasyn wrote:
So, this is this a shameless advert for a personal blog hidden under the guise of an insightful analysis?

How new.

Bingo. Inventing stories wholesale to get more traffic for their poxy blogs is a pretty hefty low.

Dont think its real, but if it is, it can only be good news.

GW company threads are always surreal.

First, we had the "GW is failing! (no citations are given)" thread.

A week or two later:

The "GW stock price is soaring. They must have sold the company! (no citations are given)" thread.

xxvaderxx wrote:
Dont think its real, but if it is, it can only be good news.

Why? Because GW has supposedly been producing crappy miniatures and overcharging their customers for them as well as treating them like crap? Have you ever considered what might happen if a big commercial company buys over GW? Worst case scenario, every boxed set becomes a snap-together pack and is now sold in Toys'R'Us pre-painted with rules to play them. That's what happens when you introduced too much commercialism, the hobby aspect is going to die.

I'm just sick of all the anti-GW sentiments - like any company they have their bad points, but it's saddening to see that sometimes people only look at their bad side.

 Enigwolf wrote:

xxvaderxx wrote:
Dont think its real, but if it is, it can only be good news.

Why? Because GW has supposedly been producing crappy miniatures and overcharging their customers for them as well as treating them like crap? Have you ever considered what might happen if a big commercial company buys over GW? Worst case scenario, every boxed set becomes a snap-together pack and is now sold in Toys'R'Us pre-painted with rules to play them. That's what happens when you introduced too much commercialism, the hobby aspect is going to die.

I'm just sick of all the anti-GW sentiments - like any company they have their bad points, but it's saddening to see that sometimes people only look at their bad side.

They brought it on their own, if they were worthy of more, you would not come across this that often. PP does not have this PR issues, and i dont even play their games, so no i dont like them better.

xxvaderxx wrote:

 Enigwolf wrote:

xxvaderxx wrote:
Dont think its real, but if it is, it can only be good news.

Why? Because GW has supposedly been producing crappy miniatures and overcharging their customers for them as well as treating them like crap? Have you ever considered what might happen if a big commercial company buys over GW? Worst case scenario, every boxed set becomes a snap-together pack and is now sold in Toys'R'Us pre-painted with rules to play them. That's what happens when you introduced too much commercialism, the hobby aspect is going to die.

I'm just sick of all the anti-GW sentiments - like any company they have their bad points, but it's saddening to see that sometimes people only look at their bad side.

They brought it on their own, if they were worthy of more, you would not come across this that often. PP does not have this PR issues, and i dont even play their games, so no i dont like them better.

Give them 15 years.