It may be 2012, but the toy industry is starting to look a lot like it did a generation or two ago.
Can't get enough of those virtual cows and crops from FarmVille? Good news, agrarians: Zynga toys and games are coming this fall.
You can almost hear them now. The throngs descending on San Diego Comic-Con, ready to devour as much pop culture as they can possibly muster over an extra-long weekend.
It started as body parts you jabbed into real potatoes and became a cultural phenomenon, resulting in some sweet film roles and government work. Let's go back to the beginning.
Get ready Elmo fans. The beloved red furry monster and his Sesame Street pals are back with a bang, and a band!
Even as remnants of a recession leave the nation's real-estate market in a lurch, machines crank out millions of tiny hotels and houses at a factory in western Massachusetts.
updated: Fri Nov 05 2010 15:40:00
The board game Monopoly turns 75 and the workers who make the game reflect on why it's still going strong.
Want to get an extra early jump on this year's holiday must-haves? Take an exclusive look at what products Google says are already burning up the Internet 14 weeks before Christmas.
Hasbro Inc., the nation's No. 2 toymaker, said Thursday it is not having discussions regarding the sale of the company, contradicting a published report that briefly drove the company's stock higher.
There are still 10 months and 10 days until Christmas. But investors in toy companies are already in a festive, holiday mood.
New from Hasbro! Just in time for Christmas! It's the game the whole family can play! Match the off-season pursuit with the Sony Ericsson WTA player.
An "excessively loud" triceratops and a little girl's chemical-laced purse were among the items listed in the U.S. Public Interest Research Group's 2009 list of dangerous toys released Tuesday.
One month after the record-breaking opening of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," the team of Paramount and game-maker Hasbro proved again that toys are serious business at the box office.
Stock-market success stories have been few and far between this year, but here's one that would make Santa Claus himself proud: Toymaker Hasbro has beaten Wall Street's expectations in each of the past seven quarters, propelling the stock higher as most of the market was plummeting.
updated: Mon Oct 20 2008 02:38:00
Economic turmoil leads to protests after a Chinese toymaker shuts its doors. CNN's Andrew Stevens reports.
After Facebook took down their rogue application, the brothers behind the popular game reveal their next move
The rogue Facebook application has finally met its doom. But the official Hasbro version has Josh Quittner at a loss for words
The maker of the classic word-based board game Scrabble has sued the makers of the wildly popular online knockoff, Scrabulous
Monopoly, the world's best-selling board game, is going global. A simple idea, substituting the iconic properties of the original game with hallmark cities of the world.
updated: Fri Feb 22 2008 06:22:00
A new Monopoly game sparks controversy over Jerusalem's status. CNN's Atika Shubert reports.
The toymakers' motto for 2008: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
A host of well-known companies are leaving themselves open to shareholder lawsuits because they're not telling investors enough about how much they contribute to global warming or what it might cost them to clean up, according to a recent report.
Back in January, when planning got underway for the current holiday shopping season, Toys "R" Us executives huddled in a war room in the company's Wayne, N.J. headquarters and grappled with an important question.
Hasbro CEO Al Verrecchia told analysts Monday that he believes the recent softness in retail spending, not the recent string of toy recalls, poses the biggest threat to crucial holiday toy sales.
U.S. stocks slipped at the start of trading Monday amid continuing concerns about the economy, corporate earnings and the price of oil.
A U.S.-based workers' rights group said it found "brutal conditions" and labor violations at eight Chinese plants that make toys for big multinationals, and called on the companies to take steps for better standards.
A U.S.-based workers' rights group said it found "brutal conditions" and labor violations at eight Chinese plants that make toys for big multinationals, and called on the companies to take steps to improve standards.
A good start for a busy earnings week had stocks set for a recovery Monday.
Hasbro Inc., the world's second-largest toy maker, posted a lower quarterly profit Monday due to a charge from its repurchase of $200 million in common stock from Lucasfilm Ltd.
Hasbro reported Monday higher profits and sales, excluding items, that were revved up by sales of its "Transformers" movie-related toys and the toymaker suggested that a sequel could be in the works.
Stocks got off to a higher start Monday, helped by some surprisingly strong earnings from Dow component Merck and some dealmaking activity.
For the second time this year, toymaker Hasbro has issued a recall for about 1 million Easy-Bake Ovens after receiving complaints that young children were getting their hands or fingers stuck in the oven's opening, causing serious burns.
Hasbro Inc. will recall about 1 million Easy-Bake Ovens because children could get their hands caught in the front opening and suffer burns, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
Toymaker Mattel Inc. reported higher second-quarter profits Monday that met Wall Street expectations, although U.S. sales of its flagship Barbie brand fell in the period.
Hasbro Inc. on Monday posted a surge in its first-quarter profits and sales versus a loss from a year ago, driven by sales of its Playskool pre-school toys, Marvel-licensed toys and its Transformers toys.
U.S. stocks edged higher at Friday's open amid reports of job cuts and acquisitions.
Toymaker Hasbro and the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Tuesday recalled 985,000 Easy-Bake toy ovens after finding that kids' hands and fingers can get caught in the oven's opening, thereby posing serious risk of burns.
Toy sales inched upward in 2006 helped by the last quarter of the year which included the critical holiday season, a report released Tuesday said.
Tech stocks gained some ground in the early U.S. going Tuesday, while the broader market straddled the breakeven point
Toy manufacturer Hasbro and the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Tuesday recalled 985,000 Easy-Bake toy ovens after finding that kids' fingers can get caught in the oven's opening, thereby posing serious risk of burns.
When it comes to crossing the line, bold-faced names rarely disappoint.
Hunt for Hoffa?! See which companies had trouble coming up with the right message.
While shoppers will be eagerly snapping up toys for their children this holiday season, one consumer advocacy group is urging vigilance before parents spend a single dollar.
How did a fledgling toy company called Zizzle, created less than two years ago, beat out the industry's big guns to win the master toy license for the record-breaking "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel?
Monopoly, invented in 1935, is getting with the times.
Sony, Apple and all the other gadget pioneers better watch out. Eager to win back market share lost to hot gizmos like the iPods and PSPs, toymakers are fighting back with more innovative "tech toys" slated to debut this fall.
Sony, Apple and all the other gadget pioneers better watch out. Eager to win back market share lost to hot gizmos like the iPods and PSPs, toymakers are fighting back with more innovative "tech toys" slated to debut this fall.
Taking a page from their adult contemporaries, Hasbro will now offer kids the chance to take episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Dexter's Laboratory" with them anywhere they go.
A merger of Mattel and Hasbro, the No. 1 and No. 2 toymakers, could become a real possibility as the toy industry struggles to boost sales and counter the significant threat from discounters like Wal-Mart and Target, according to a published report Thursday.
Another noteworthy but less controversial "ambassadorial" appointment made a United Nations' debut Tuesday when Hasbro marked the return of the new multi-lingual Furby to a group of young international "delegates-in-training" in New York.
The "Force" promised to deliver, and it did both at the box office and the cash register for Hasbro.
Hasbro is betting the force will be in the boxes. The empty boxes.
There's no doubt that Monopoly,Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary are among the undisputed game classics of the toy world.
Stocks showed signs of stabilizing Monday morning after last week's sell-off as traders -- worried about slowing economic growth -- look ahead to this week's slew of earnings reports.
Warren Buffett, 74
He's been credited with launching some of the biggest toy hits over the past decade, including Furby, Giga Pets and Poo-Chi the robotic pet dog.
Hasbro Inc., the No. 2 toymaker after Mattel, is gearing up to make its first foray into the hot market for electronic learning toys and games with its new "ION" educational gaming console.
Hasbro has an exclusive license to make and sell Star Wars toys and games until 2018. But it needs to see the payoff from that deal in 2005, when the last scheduled installment of the movie franchise is set to be released.
Parents and kids, it's time to brush up on your "Furbish" cause that bug-eyed interactive furball toy called Furby is comin' back.
This could be the breakthrough year that redefines the image of a toy.
With its stellar quarterly results and surprisingly bullish holiday forecast, toymaker Jakks Pacific delivered a one-two punch Tuesday that threatened to make industry big guns Mattel and Hasbro sound like a pair of whiners.
One of the most popular toys for children this summer, the Super Soaker Monster Rocket, is being recalled because a part of it can pop off and cause cuts and in one case, a concussion, said a government agency Thursday.
Q Do I have a better chance of making it to the executive suite as a generalist or as a specialist?
Leif Askeland, a vice president for engineering at toymaker Hasbro, is the cat's meow this holiday season. The soft-spoken engineer created one of the year's most sought-after toys--a line of lifel...
1,000 500 2000 NEWCOMERS RANK RANK REVENUES TO LIST 2001 2000 $millions
Rod MacGregor, a computer engineer with a Jules Verne imagination, thinks he's come up with a way to revolutionize the electric-motor industry. He's developed what he calls "nanomuscles," tiny actu...
David Brady may manage money for children, but you won't find their favorite playthings in his Stein Roe Young Investors Fund. Brady doesn't have a single toy stock among his top 25 holdings, and w...
I've always loved robots. An impressionable 9-year-old when The Day the Earth Stood Still hit the local movie theater, I practiced saying "Klaatu barada nikto" to keep my cigar-box-and-Erector-set ...
"There's Laa Laa and, uh...Po..." Herb Baum, Hasbro's new president and chief operating officer, trails off midsentence. For the first time in a very long day at the American International Toy Fair...
When it came to selecting Monopoly's first new game piece in nearly half a century, the game's enthusiasts--who voted on the new token--passed up the sentimental biplane and the thrifty symbolism o...
WHIRLPOOL: THROUGH THE RINGER
Okay, okay, we know what you're going to ask: Why seek out actively managed funds when you can stash your money in a sure winner--an S&P 500 index fund? After all, over the past five years the inde...
Don't get me started on the subject of investment message boards. These online financial hootenannies are dangerous at best, and at worst the investment version of poisoned Kool-Aid. Pity the poor ...
Say hello to Furby. It's here to save Christmas for Hasbro. A five-inch ball of fluffy fur, Furby looks like an Olympic mascot gone mutant. It blinks its eyes fervently before emitting a squawky "c...
When FORTUNE heard Hasbro was holding a vote to choose a new Monopoly token, we were thrilled--until we saw the choices: a piggy bank, a sack of money, and a biplane. Excuse us, but a biplane? Heck...
Frequently asked question No. 5 on Hasbro's official Starting Lineup Website asks why the toymaker allows the miniature sports collectibles to be sold "out the back door." It might as well have sai...
Not so long from now, in this very galaxy, Star Wars impresario George Lucas will make an announcement certain to rock the toy business. After months of anticipation, Lucas will grant toy licenses ...
It was Irish satirist Jonathan Swift who modestly proposed that his countrymen -- facing a glut of infant mouths to feed -- learn how to fricassee the tykes for supper. Happily, today's sky-high U....
If you rode the toy stocks' 90% rise last year, give a pat on the back to Barbie and G.I. Joe. Together with other venerable oldsters of playland, they helped push sales of traditional toys in the ...
The London stock exchange suspended trading in Robert Maxwell's Maxwell Communication after his loss at sea was reported. But when the stock opened again two days after his death, the price plummet...
WHAT IN THE WORLD is going on with the junk bond market? In the first half of this year, borrower after borrower defaulted. Pan Am and Insilco have filed for Chapter 11, TWA is teetering, and let's...
COULD IT BE that the debt crisis is overblown? The numbers are certainly staggering, and judging from the responses to FORTUNE's latest poll of big- league corporate chiefs, debt is a problem all r...
Can business be profitable while helping to create a better world? Can executives be socially responsible while attending to the bottom line? Folks who insist on raising these portentous questions ...
It's been a tough 13 months for Alan Hassenfeld, 42, who became CEO of toymaker Hasbro when his brother, Stephen, died at 47 last year. During Stephen's ten-year reign at the company their grandfat...
TECHNOLOGY/Cover Story 56 AMERICA'S HOT YOUNG SCIENTISTS Let FORTUNE introduce you to 12 brilliant thinkers who have achieved important breakthroughs -- from Susan Solomon, who is solving the riddl...
Youth is an advantage for Karen Firestone, who manages Fidelity's Select Leisure fund. At 33, the mother of four is intimately familiar with the buying habits of the spendaholic baby-boom generatio...
All systems were go for the nation's largest industrial companies last year. Profits skipped ahead 27% to record levels, as shown in a tally of the Fortune 500 on page 346, helping to fuel a stock ...
DESPITE the market plunge, chief executives interviewed for the FORTUNE 500 CEO poll, the second in a series, are mostly upbeat. They expect no recession next year, think company profits will excee...
-- Trouble in Toyland: Burbank, California, banned the sale of realistic- looking toy guns. And toy-based cartoons like Mattel's Masters of the Universe and Hasbro's Transformers have taken some fl...
ONLY TWO COMPANIES have ranked No. 1 on the FORTUNE 500 directory of industrial corporations in the 32 years the list has been compiled. General Motors held the spot from 1954 until it was unseated...
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