PROVIDENCE — Hasbro has once again pushed back its timeline on announcing whether it would relocate its headquarters out of Rhode Island and into the Boston area, citing ongoing tariff wars.
“While tariff developments have given us more to consider, we’re making progress on determining our HQ, with clarity expected by summer,” said CEO Christian “Chris” P. Cocks in an internal video announcement sent to employees.
A transcript of the video was obtained by the Globe.
“As promised, we’ll provide at least 12 months of transition time before an HQ move,” said Cocks in the video.
Abby Rhodes, Hasbro’s vice president of corporate external communications, confirmed in an email to the Globe that an announcement about the possible headquarters move would not come until this summer.
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Executives at Hasbro, the maker of iconic games and toys including Monopoly, My Little Pony, and Nerf, have expressed interest in moving from their aging Pawtucket headquarters. Officials in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have been courting them for nearly a year.
In a bid to keep Hasbro in Rhode Island, during a November 2024 meeting leaders from Rhode Island Commerce and Governor Dan McKee’s office pitched several locations within the state where Hasbro could construct a new headquarters as well as a series of incentives, according to a report and videos obtained by the Globe in response to a public records request.
During that meeting, state officials said they received letters from Hasbro employees, who did not want Hasbro to relocate the toymaker from Pawtucket to Boston, according to several people who were in the meeting.
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Since then, confidence that Hasbro will remain in Rhode Island has waned.
The company’s board of directors met in early February, but spokespeople have refused to answer questions related to that meeting or say whether the board voted about moving the company’s headquarters. Rhode Island state officials and city leaders in Providence and Pawtucket say there has been no response to their requests for updates.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi told the Globe last week. Spokespeople for Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the same.
Andrea Palagi, a spokeswoman for McKee, said the governor texted Cocks after the February board meeting. Cocks never responded, she confirmed to the Globe.
Requests to interview Cocks on the company’s plans for its headquarters, among other business strategy initiatives, were denied.
While various locations in Boston seemed to be under consideration, commercial real estate prices there are much higher than in Rhode Island, and there has been concern about how President Trump’s tariffs could affect the toy company.
About 40 percent of Hasbro’s toys are made in China, but the company has promised to get that figure down to 20 percent over the next few years. In late 2024, Gina Goetter, Hasbro’s chief financial and operating officer, said Hasbro is working with suppliers to invest in new manufacturing sites.
“A tariff is basically a cost on the product. And costs on products will ultimately get passed through to the end user,” Cocks said in a recent interview. “So, our preference would be that to we minimize tariffs wherever possible because we’re very focused on affordability and getting the lowest possible price points to our consumers.”
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To attempt to offset costs to the consumer in the short term, Cocks said the company could potentially renegotiate contracts with suppliers, consolidate vendors, or alter product designs so they are less intricate.
“At the end of the day, when you’re talking about tariffs in the neighborhood of 20 percent-plus, that’s a cost we can’t fully accommodate and will have to be passed down,” said Cocks.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.