Hasbro Relies on ‘Magic’ to Offset Impact of Tariffs

Hasbro says it has magic to thank for muting the impact of tariffs this quarter.

More to the point, Magic the Gathering, the collectible card game from the company’s Wizards of the Coast business, saw a 23% uptick in revenue, according to quarterly earnings released Wednesday (July 23).

Overall revenues were down 1%, with growth in the Wizards and digital gaming divisions almost offsetting a tariff-driven downturn in consumer products.

“While tariffs represent a headwind for the business … we are compensating for these costs through a combination of cost reductions, rebalancing our marketing spend, diversifying our supplier mix and implementing some targeted pricing actions,” CEO Chris Cocks said on the company’s earnings call.

Gina Goetter, the company’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, noted Hasbro was seeing some “downstream impacts” from trade uncertainty in the retail landscape.

“Many retailers are delaying holiday inventory builds and pushed shelf resets into Q3, both of which weighed on Q2 consumer products revenue and are requiring us to remain agile in the second half,” she said.

During the last quarter, Goetter had warned that Hasbro was anticipating a $100 million to $300 million gross impact from tariffs in 2025.

Now, Cocks said, the company is feeling cautiously optimistic about its toy and general merchandise business, considering that consumer sentiment has begun to bounce back.

“The consumer tends to be continuing to buy, and we don’t see much evidence of pull-forward buying, you know, anticipating inflation or tariffs,” he said. That said though, the tariffs are going to have an impact. We do expect pricing to happen across the industry.”

In other tariff-related news, PYMNTS wrote Wednesday about new research showing consumers are routinely running into product shortages and higher costs.

The research found that close to half of all U.S. consumers had encountered product shortages, finding the food, household goods or apparel items they were after out of stock or unavailable. This impact was felt among 58% of people living paycheck to paycheck, and 47% of consumers overall, the report said.

In addition, roughly a third of consumers have been explicitly told by businesses that tariffs were responsible for higher prices on productions. Roughly a quarter noted merchants referencing “increased costs” without mentioning tariffs specifically.

“These hikes disproportionately affect younger generations and those living paycheck to paycheck, who often seek lower-priced, imported items,” PYMNTS wrote.