October 2008

The Casual Optimist led me to this remarkable story of growth and prosperity in a traditional publishing medium in Fortune Magazine.

While storm clouds gather for newspaper, magazine and book publishers, the comic book market is surging ahead. And there’s nothing but upside for the two big publishers – Marvel and DC Comics – who share more than 80% of the market between them. Wow!

“In the quarter ended June 30, publishing accounted for $32 million of Marvel’s $157 million in revenues, and $11.7 million of its $85.2 million in operating profit. (The bulk of the rest came from licensing – which generates even higher margins of more than 80% – since the spoils from “Iron Man” won’t show up until the next couple of quarterly results.) Although its publishing revenue and profits declined in the first half of the year, the company has given guidance that it expects revenue growth in publishing between 3% and 7% for the year, and margins between 37% and 40%.”

My god. I’m not entirely sure if book publishers have ever had margins like that, have they?

Read full article: Spoiler alert: Comic books are alive and kicking

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