Nearly three years after completing its acquisition of Entertainment One (eOne), Hasbro is now looking to sell the Toronto-headquartered company’s TV and film business as it advances its entertainment strategy focused on its own core brands.

Rhode Island-based Hasbro’s board of directors has authorized a sale process for the part of its eOne TV and film business that is not directly supporting the company’s branded entertainment strategy, the U.S. toy giant announced on Thursday (Nov. 17). The move is in connection with Hasbro’s strategic review process led by its CEO, Chris Cocks, who said in a statement that the company has received interest from “several parties” for eOne’s TV and film business “that, while valuable, is not core to our go-forward strategy.”

Hasbro has retained banking firms J.P. Morgan and Centerview Partners to assist with the potential sale, which includes Hasbro’s interest in eOne’s Canadian film and TV business and Hasbro’s category-leading unscripted division. It also includes a content library with more than 6,500 assets and the non-Hasbro branded film and scripted TV business with titles such as The Woman King, Yellowjackets (pictured) and The Rookie franchise.

Hasbro said it anticipates the sale process will take several months, during which its entertainment team will continue to operate under the eOne production mark.

Hasbro’s news release said the company “does not intend to make any additional comments regarding this process unless and until a transaction is entered into or the process is terminated.”

Hasbro’s acquisition of eOne was finalized on Dec. 30, 2019 in a transaction valued at around $4.93 billion (US$3.8 billion). Since then, eOne has laid off 10% of its film and TV teams and ended its theatrical distribution in Canada and Spain. Meanwhile, Darren Throop is set to step down as eOne’s president and CEO of at the end of this year, and the company’s Toronto-based VR studio subsidiary Secret Location shut down in October.

The interest shown in eOne’s TV and film business following Hasbro’s recent Investor Day informed the decision to explore a sale process, Cocks said.

“The acquisition of eOne delivered fantastic talent, top tier production and deal-making capability and beloved brands with strong toyetic potential including Peppa Pig. We will retain these terrific capabilities while exploring the best way to maximize the value of the eOne TV & film business for the benefit of our shareholders,” he said.

Cocks pointed to Hasbro’s new branded entertainment strategy, Blueprint 2.0, which plans to for a significant increase in strategic investment in core Hasbro IP and key franchise brands like Dungeons & Dragons, Peppa Pig, Transformers and My Little Pony. The strategy’s focus is on gaming, direct to consumer, franchise brands and licensing.

“We plan to expand our entertainment offerings across scripted TV, digital shorts, and blockbuster films,” he said. Such projects will span Hasbro’s brands and also include the development of new IP such as the recently announced Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes, which is scheduled to premiere on Disney Junior and Disney+ in 2023.

Photo by Kailey Schwerman/Showtime