IDW I don't follow it super closely, but keeping an eye on it. Second quarter was expected to be down because there would not be any licensing income from the entertainment division. First quarter was .15 earnings.
They basically switched to a much less risky business model (at least in theory) From memory, they used to be trying to do everything themselves. They'd publish a comic or graphic novel, if something caught on and got hot they'd try and produce a show or movie themselves. Got deeply into debt. Now they've switched to more of a numbers game rather than bet everything on one big winner (and maybe lose big)
Outgoing CEO Ezra recently made two divisions: publishing and entertainment. Typical marketing funnel. The publishing side gets 500-1000 submissions from authors for new comics, graphic novels, etc. Out of this, they might publish 30 or 40 titles. The idea is for this business to roughly break even.
Of those titles that get published, maybe 4 or 5 gain enough popularity to make a TV series. This is the entertainment division. This is where most of the profit is made. They don't try to do it themselves, they license to a studio and take a licensing fee for overseeing the production regarding storyline, etc. Then out of those 4 or 5 maybe one becomes a movie and big fees as well.
This whole change only happened maybe last year and a half, I forget. It was expected to take a little time and be a little lumpy, plus some of the old deals were tailing off. But things seemed on track and Ezra was focused on profitability. I don't know if the approach will ultimately work, but it seemed logical. Now he's gone without much explanation.
AI
