Hasbro Inc

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Hasbro Inc. of Pawtucket, R.I., was voluntarily recalling 294,000 Nerf Big Play Footballs because their hard plastic interior frame poses a safety hazard.

In a deal that will surely make activist groups froth and may have rivals looking over their shoulders, Discovery Communications Inc. and Hasbro Inc. are partnering on a new kids' cable channel aimed at the elusive 14-and-under demographic. Under the terms of the deal, Hasbro, maker of Trivial Pursuit, G.I. Joe, Transformers and Scrabble, will pay $300 million for a 50% stake in Discovery Kids Network, the cable programmer's children's channel, which is available in 60 million homes.

Hasbro Inc. said first-quarter profit dropped 47% as consumers cut spending and retailers trimmed inventory. Net income fell to $19.7 million, or 14 cents a share, from $37.5 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier, the Pawtucket, R.I., company said. Revenue dropped 12% to $621.3 million. Hasbro shares dropped 75 cents, or 2.7%, to $27.18.

Hasbro Inc., the No. 2 U.S. toy maker, won a three-year license to make toys based on Snoopy, Charlie Brown and other world-renowned "Peanuts" characters. Hasbro expects to start marketing the new line this fall. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Hasbro Inc. said first-quarter profit dropped 47% as consumers cut spending and retailers trimmed inventory. Net income fell to $19.7 million, or 14 cents a share, from $37.5 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier, the Pawtucket, R.I., company said. Revenue dropped 12% to $621.3 million. Hasbro shares dropped 75 cents, or 2.7%, to $27.18.

Hasbro Announces Reorganization, Layoffs: The toy maker said it will merge several divisions in a restructuring that will mean the loss of 100 jobs. The company will merge Playskool, Playskool Baby, Hasbro Toy, Kid Dimension and Kenner into a single unit, U.S. Toy Group. It also said it will no longer use Hasbro as a brand name for toys. All Hasbro toy products, including G.I. Joe and Cabbage Patch Kids, will be marketed under the Kenner or Playskool names, the company said. Hasbro Inc.

Time Warner Notes Backed by Hasbro Shares: The New York communications giant plans to raise about $500 million by issuing notes that holders may exchange for some of the 12 million shares of Hasbro Inc. stock that Time Warner owns. The deal involves issuing liquid yield option notes through Merrill Lynch & Co. A source familiar with the deal said the transaction allows Time Warner to raise money to pay off high-cost debt, sell off its shares in the toy maker and defer taxes on the sale.

Hasbro Inc. has dropped its lawsuit against the makers of Scrabulous, a popular online version of board game Scrabble. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in New York, Hasbro dropped the lawsuit Friday. Hasbro, which owns the North American rights to Scrabble, sued Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, brothers from Calcutta, India, this summer. The brothers developed the unauthorized version, called Scrabulous, after they couldn't find an online version they liked.

Hasbro Inc. to Scrabulous: N-I-X-E-D, for a minimum of 13 points. The toy company scored big Tuesday in its legal match against the popular but unauthorized version of Scrabble that's played online by millions of Facebook members. The India-based creators of Scrabulous shut down the game to players in the U.S. and Canada, where Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble, a week after Hasbro sued them, alleging copyright infringement.

The companies that make Scrabble are trying to shut down Scrabulous, an online version of the game that is one of the most popular applications on the social-networking website Facebook. Hasbro Inc., which owns the rights to the crossword game in the U.S. and Canada, and Mattel Inc., which owns the rights elsewhere, believe that the Facebook game infringes their copyrights and trademarks. Scrabulous listed more than 600,000 daily active users on Facebook as of Wednesday.

Hasbro Inc., the toy company behind the Transformers brand, wants to turn more of its line of toys into concepts for movies and has put a veteran studio executive in charge. The move comes after this summer's blockbuster "Transformers" generated $702 million in worldwide ticket sales, making it one of the most successful toy-based movies in history.

Electronic Arts Inc., the maker of "Madden NFL" and "Nascar" video games, will create titles based on Hasbro Inc.'s Monopoly, Scrabble and Yahtzee board games to attract family-oriented consumers. Electronic Arts also bought exclusive rights to Hasbro brands including "Nerf" and "Tonka" for as many as 10 years, the company said. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Hasbro titles will be created by Electronic Arts' casual entertainment unit and go on sale next year.

Hasbro Inc. is recalling nearly 1 million Easy-Bake ovens because children may be burned or injured while playing with the toy. The recall affects all ovens sold since May, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday. The latest version of the classic toy, which debuted in 1963, heats food like a toaster oven would, instead of by using a light bulb.

Rubik's rises again. The multicolored cube that swept the U.S. when it was first released in 1980 is surging in popularity, buoyed by a cameo in the recent hit movie "The Pursuit of Happyness," and a renewed interest in back-to-basics toys. Barbie dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are hot -- no batteries or instruction manuals required.