Hasbro misses huge holiday toy opportunity with Disney's "Baby Yoda"

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.

• "Baby Yoda" is 50-years-old (diaper-age for yoda's species) and the cult star of the series.
• But Disney kept him a secret until the show launched in November — it didn't even tell top toy-making partner Hasbro.
• So parents ended up searching for "Baby Yoda" toys on Amazon over 90K times this past month (and ordered $100K worth of fake/unofficial ones).
• Now Hasbro's unveiled a gaggle of Baby Yoda toys... but they won't arrive until May 2020.

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.