Marvel's publishing earnings down, prices for pamphlets likely to go up
Published by Avi Green on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 8:33 AM.
Their licensing deals may be up, but their publishing has gone down:
There are some possible options on how to avoid having to increase the price: start respecting their properties and fans again, and look for cheaper forms of paper (even Baxter could be less expensive than the gloss-sheets they're using now), or even to go exclusively in trade paperback format, which could help them get back into the bookstores more easily. But that could take a long time for them to think about, if at all, and until then, the audience is likely to be reduced to even more of a shadow of its former self.
Broken down within the company's divisions, Licensing saw net sales increase to $94.9 million in Q2 2008 from $65.6 million in Q2 2007. Marvels in-house Film Production segments recorded sales for the first time of $28.8 million, primarily from the theatrical component of the foreign presales for both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.This is partly due to their abuse of their universe of heroes and disrespect for fans, of course. If it hadn't been for that, maybe prices would've been at least a dollar less today. Now, with prices likely to go up more, to $3.50 or more, readers are likely to be even more discouraged.
Marvel Publishing saw net sales decline 3%, however, to $31.8 million in Q2 2008 principally due to a decline in sales to the direct channel – i.e. direct market.
According to the company, the decline in sales principally reflects, "stronger sales in Q2 2007 generated from Civil War trade paperbacks and the high profile limited edition comic book series The Dark Tower and The Death of Captain America. Operating income declined 20% to $11.7 million in Q2 2008 and operating margin declined to 37% versus 45% in Q2 2007. These decreases principally reflect lower net sales volume of comic books, trade paperbacks and hard cover books, coupled with an increase in cost of goods sold driven by rising costs for talent and paper. Additionally, Publishing’s operating income was affected by additional overhead related to digital media investments in Q2 2008."
This is the second quarter in a row where Publishing has recorded a year-to-year decline in sales. In 1Q 2008, net sales declined by 4%, according to the company principally due to the timing of major publishing initiatives, again citing the lack of sales of titles like Civil War and The Death of Captain America. In their 1Q 2008 report, the company reported an operating margin of approximately 37% compared to approximately 42% in the prior year-period, and based on its planned slate of publishing initiatives, including the release of Secret Invasion in late 2Q 2008, expected its Publishing segment to return to "traditional margins for the full year 2008."
It's their citing of the rising costs of paper and talent in their current report 2Q 2008 that comic book fans might want to keep an eye on, as this could be a potential early indicator of a cover price increase.
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Wall Street is not taking Marvel Earnings Report well. Shares of the company are down over 8% to around $32.40 dollars a share on Tuesday morning (as per 10:2am)
There are some possible options on how to avoid having to increase the price: start respecting their properties and fans again, and look for cheaper forms of paper (even Baxter could be less expensive than the gloss-sheets they're using now), or even to go exclusively in trade paperback format, which could help them get back into the bookstores more easily. But that could take a long time for them to think about, if at all, and until then, the audience is likely to be reduced to even more of a shadow of its former self.
Labels: marvel comics, sales
