By Anne D'Innocenzio, Retail Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Toy and entertainment company Hasbro Inc. has announced that Brian D. Goldner is taking a medical leave of absence from his CEO role, effective immediately.
The move, announced Sunday, follows Goldner's disclosure in August 2020 that he was undergoing continued medical treatment for cancer since 2014.
Goldner has served as the CEO of Hasbro, Inc. since 2008, and has served as the chairman since May 2015.
Rich Stoddart, most recently the lead independent director of Hasbro's board, has been appointed as interim CEO and will begin immediately.
Hasbro says Stoddart brings extensive leadership experience and expertise in global brand-building, advertising and marketing, and supply chain management. He was previously CEO at InnerWorkings, Inc., the largest global marketing execution company, and Leo Burnett Worldwide. He has served on Hasbro's board since 2014.
In conjunction with appointing Stoddart as interim CEO, Hasbro's board has reappointed Edward M. Philip as lead independent director, and Tracy A. Leinbach as chair of the nominating, governance and social responsibility committee of the board.
Philip has more than 30 years of business and management experience, including as both an operating executive and chief financial officer of multinational corporations. Leinbach served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Ryder System, Inc., a global logistics and transportation and supply chain solutions provider from 2003 until 2006.
"Brian has been an inspiring and visionary leader who has set Hasbro on an incredible path towards the future. All of us at Hasbro are thinking of him while he focuses on his health, "said Philp in a statement.
Hasbro's headquarters are in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More