Inc.
Report: Harry Potter Earned $150 M. in 24 Hours
Variety reports out an interesting take on the record-breaking sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
While the book and movie businesses are structured very differently, dollars the franchise generated domestically this weekend for its creator and distributor surpass what a studio might take in for a hit tentpole. Publishers typically sell books to wholesalers and retailers for a 40%-45% discount off the retail price, which means the Saturday sales alone could generate more than $150 million in receipts for Scholastic and Rowling.
8.3 million copies of the book sold in the first 24 hours after its midnight release July 21. When you consider that almost all of the marketing and advertising costs are borne by the retailers, that's a lot of dosh. read more »
Scholastic Offices 'A Madhouse' After Harry Potter Book Leaks to Web
"It's a madhouse here." So quoth a flack at Scholastic, the publishers of the eagerly awaited Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series by J.K. Rowling.
With three days, six hours, 26 minutes, and 12 seconds until the book goes on sale in bookstores midnight on Friday night, a set of photographs depicting each page of the book was uploaded to the bittorrent file-sharing site, Pirate Bay. read more »
Barneys Suitor Losing Money On UNIQLO Store
Fast Retailing Inc., the Japanese retail giant that owns the UNIQLO chain of cheap-chic clothing stores and which put together a $900 million bid to buy Barneys New York from the Jones Apparel Group, downgraded its forecast for the third time this business year.
According to Reuters:
Having built up an empire of more than 700 stores in Japan, Fast Retailing has pledged to invest up to 400 billion yen over the next three years on acquisitions in a bid to boost its global presence and double annual sales to 1 trillion yen by 2010. read more »
Two Mideast Firms Drive Barneys Bidding Into Billions
WWD is reporting that two investment firms from the Middle East could drive the bidding for Barneys as high as $1.8 billion. We're not so familiar with the Qatar Investment Authority, but the other, Istithmar (a royal-family owned firm from Dubai) has been all over New York lately.
