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THQ Refocuses - Open Letter

[Jan 25, 2012, 10:37 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

NeoGAF has a lengthy letter sent anonymously overnight to the THQ Board of Directors, and signed by "The Formerly Mismanaged," who claim to be a group of "Current and Ex-Employees, Shareholders, and The Public" (thanks Strategy Informer). The letter attempts "to explain to outsiders how this beaten-down company has wound up in this position, laying blame for sharp declines to the company's stock price at the feet of CEO Brian Farrell, and calling other executives to task by name for failures to live up to their seven-figure salaries. On a related, though perhaps coincidental note, THQ announces a realignment whereby it is "exiting its relationships with kids’ licensed entertainment companies but will continue to sell certain previously released titles." Going forward, word is: "The company will continue to build its strong portfolio of core game franchises and align its resources to deliver games on both existing consoles and new and emerging platforms. The company intends to accelerate digital revenues by extending and supporting key console launches, and to create dedicated digital properties for emerging platforms." Here's a portion of the open letter:

THQ had been known through the years for having a formula. They find a hot license, make a cheap game, barely advertise it, and make money. This formula worked during the Playstation and Xbox and Gameboy days and made the company a lot of cash. Unfortunately, THQ’s old guard executives seem to be stuck trying to manage the company the same way they did back then and haven’t realized the industry has changed.

The beginning of the end came years ago as Brian Farrell lead an executive team to acquire a large number of studios. A large amount of cash was used in the acquisition or setup of game developers with different degrees of talent. The problem was they were bought without strategic reasoning or specific plan on to use them. So after awhile another large amount of money was spent as those studios failed and were sold off and shut down. The executive team at the time were an entirely different group of people with one key exception in the CEO. The CEO/the then executive team wasted the cash that the company had built up with these massive investments and selloffs.

The studio purchase errors were not helped by the mistakes in the licensing deals that were signed by the same CEO. Millions and millions of dollars were wasted on acquiring licenses at the same time the kids, family, casual business was declining at a rapid rate. Instead of slowing those acquisitions he overpaid for more of them until again cash was wasted in paying for brands that didn’t sell well anymore.

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85.

Re: THQ Refocuses - Open Letter

Jan 26, 2012, 12:32

RollinThundr

Matshock wrote on Jan 26, 2012, 10:47: RollinThundr wrote on Jan 26, 2012, 09:45: Change the tax codes so everyone pays a flat 18% Across the board. That's fair isn't it? Democrats talk about fairness all the time. Everyone paying the same sounds fair to me. More like 27% if you don't want to cut Social Security/Medicare deeply. But that would be a step in the right direction- it will end all of the special interest provisions built into the tax code. And for those rolling your eyes- 27% is a lot more than the capital gains 15% cap (18% is more for that matter). If anything, tax revenues will go up because the multi-nationals like Apple & GM will have fewer places to hide income. If you're gonna bleed all over about the poor just print them off some more food credit for their WIC cards. They can keep buying cases of energy drinks for their cocktails before mounting their new pickup trucks. IMO it's too late anyway but if someone wants to take a shot at plugging the gaping hole in the hull from the inside then be my guest. Here is the Democrat's final solution: Obama has prepped for our "Great Leap Forward" by dooming our seniors to an earlier grave. Part of the Obamacare law that went into effect this January 1 was to stop paying for my Aunt's blood pressure meds- no notice was sent to her or her doctor, apparently my 92 year old aunt is supposed to read 25K+ pages of regulations and prepare accordingly. It's as old as paganism itself- when the crops don't come in start opening throats on the altar of hedonism until everyone left is satisfied again. 18% is fine. Maybe a few percent more. The problem in the US is people are not taught to be personally responsible anymore. It is NOT government's job to provide. Budgeting isn't rocket science yet to liberals it apparently is, why I don't know. Saving for retirement isn't rocket science either. To those on the left, their solution is just tax the rich more and redistribute it to every one else. It's a failed idelogy. Socialism, much like communism doesn't work.

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