Furious with you, I am... When the CEO of toy company Hasbro snuggled into his sofa to watch Disney+'s Star Wars-ish The Mandalorian series, he wondered what that adorable miniature Yoda thing was. It was hundreds of millions of should-be dollars for his company.
This is "Tickle Me Elmo" money... The master of all holiday toys quintupled 1996 sales for its company (Tyco). The current popularity and undeniable cuteness of Baby Yoda could've driven similar holiday pandemonium, but Disney's stealthy self-serving moves were Hasbro's loss.
Hasbro is pretty much a Disney toy store... Hasbro paid big for the rights to be the official toymaker of Disney franchises Star Wars, Marvel, and Frozen. Now those toys are a huge part of its biz — 27% of Hasbro sales last quarter came from "partner brands." That's corporate-speak for Disney's billion-dollar character franchises, from Elsa to the Skywalkers.