Hasbro Hires Quaker State Chief as President, Chief Operating Officer

Hasbro Inc., the world’s second-largest toy maker, on Monday named Quaker State Corp. chief Herbert Baum, known for his track record in selling consumer products, for its new positions of president and chief operating officer.

Baum, 62, will join Hasbro after Quaker State’s merger with Pennzoil Co.’s car products business is completed later this month, Hasbro said. He will report to Hasbro Chief Executive and Chairman Alan Hassenfeld, 50.

Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro searched nearly a year for a candidate to fill the two new positions.

Baum has been chief executive and chairman at Quaker since 1983. After the proposed merger of the Irving, Texas, motor-oil maker and Pennzoil Co., Baum was to have held the No. 2 position of vice chairman.

Under Baum’s tenure at Quaker, the company’s sales more than doubled and operating earnings grew sevenfold as he helped acquire brands such as Blue Coral car wax and rain-X windshield treatment.

Before joining Quaker, Baum was president of Campbell Soup Co.’s North and South American operations, where he was known for helping introduce the popular Prego Spaghetti Sauce, the company’s first major foray out of soup.

Hasbro, the No. 2 toy maker behind Mattel Inc., which announced a deal to buy educational software maker Learning Co. for $3.2 billion on Monday, has cashed in on movies with the re-release of the original “Star Wars” trilogy. It also holds licenses for the prequel trilogy, which will appear in theaters from 1999 through 2003.

The maker of some of the best-known brand names in the industry, such as G.I. Joe and Playskool as well as Monopoly and Yahtzee and Scrabble, Hasbro has had one truly successful new toy this holiday season, Furby--an interactive, talking furry doll.

Hasbro shares fell $1.69 to close at $33.38 on the American Stock Exchange. Quaker State shares fell 38 cents to close at $13.94 on the NYSE.