Disney Buying Hasbro?

MTV Geek is reporting an unconfirmed rumor that Disney is considering following up their $4 billion purchase of Star Wars by buying Hasbro. Hasbro currently has the license for Star Wars toys and of course is the home of Transformers.

Well, we have it on good authority that serious discussions are happening at the highest levels of both Disney and Hasbro to fold the largest toy and game company on the planet into the Mouse.

From what we’re told, these are still just discussions at this point, but serious enough that something could be announced at any time and create ripples throughout the entertainment industry. The Lucasfilm acquisition has been reported as taking as few as 6 months to complete. On the other hand, Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has until 2015 on his current contract, and he waited about 3 years in between the acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilm, so we may be without firm news on this for some time.

Considering that Disney does make a ton of money from toys, going into the toy making business wouldn't be a stretch. From a business perspective, it wouldn't be a bad purchase as it would give Disney the rights to Transformers, GI Joe, Parker Bros games (Monopoly, etc.), Milton Bradley, Tonka, Kenner, Wizards of the Coast (Magic the Gathering) and host of other things. About the only down side is The Hub would probably be shuttered as soon as the contact with Discovery ends.

As far as an impact on the Transformers movies, it would have none as those properties are already contracted out to Paramount for the foreseeable future. Chances are that contract is like Sony's Spider-Man and X-Men contract, as long as they continue to make movies within every X number of years, they keep the property. IDW would lose Transformers and GI Joe as soon as their current contract expires (probably within a few years). Considering the current sales numbers (10k on average), it is unlikely that Marvel would even bother to continue to make comics for either property beyond the occasional tie-in mini-series to a movie or video game release. Any case, this remains a unconfirmed rumor so have to wait and see.