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View Full Version : How much would it cost to buy the rights to Spiderman?


JeremyW
10-09-2002, 05:34 AM
Not the movie or television rights, just the comic book rights. Just curious, anyone have any idea?
in4pain
10-09-2002, 05:50 AM
way up in the millions for sure. like a hundred cazillion quadbillion bucks. i wish i had a quadbillion bucks. im not sure that dc could even put a price on superman. that would be like microsuck selling windoze. hard to say how much superman is realy worth, really hard.
JeremyW
10-09-2002, 05:59 AM
Originally posted by in4pain
way up in the millions for sure. like a hundred cazillion quadbillion bucks. i wish i had a quadbillion bucks. im not sure that dc could even put a price on superman. that would be like microsuck selling windoze. hard to say how much superman is realy worth, really hard.

I was talking about Spiderman.
Bruce
10-09-2002, 06:10 AM
Way more than it's worth.
Not to mention the fact that there is no way that would ever happen.
red7ine
10-09-2002, 06:11 AM
Jeremy,

send me 2 crisp $100 bills and I'll see what I can do...

me and Joey Q are like this


vaught
JeremyW
10-09-2002, 06:19 AM
I don't wan't Spiderman I was just wondering how much it would cost for that kind of transaction.
Inkthinker
10-09-2002, 06:50 AM
So what you want to know is the current market value for the printing rights to the character Spider-Man?

Well, that's some complex math... this is one of the ways that lawyers make their money. It'd probably be calculated based on current and projected sales figures, augmented by peripheral proerties like the films and television series, as well as the value of the intellectual property and his current public image. Right now he's very hot...

Besides, it's unlikely that Marvel would wish to part with their flagship character... he's probably their hottest commodity right now, with the X-Men running a close second. You'd have an easier time attempting to purchase the entire Marvel Corporation from their owners... and I'm not sure off the top of my head who owns Marvel right now. Not Time-Warner, I think... they own DC Comics.

Hmmmm...
Inkthinker
10-09-2002, 07:02 AM
Yahoo Finance has this to say about Marvel (a finacial summary):



MVL is a character-based entertainment company with a proprietary library of over 4,500 characters. The Company operates in the licensing, comic book publishing and toy businesses in both domestic and int'l markets. For the six months ended 6/30/02, revenues rose 45% to $128.2 million. Net income applicable to Com. before accnt. change totalled $1 million vs. a loss of $24 million. Results reflect increased toy sales, and the absence of $11.7 million in goodwill charges.


Basically, Marvel comics is still losing money... it costs more to keep it running than it brings in. The only way it survives is through peripheral profits and the continuing struggles of the people who run it. If you thought being Joe Quesada was cool, think about explaining to a group of investors why they should continue to drop 24 million dollars annually into a company with a much lower net income. Warning: the argument that, "Spider-Man is SO cool!!" will NOT get you very far. Poor guy probably has an ulcer the size of Houston.

So, if you were a multi-millionaire with a desire to own a comics business that is basically a money-hole, you could proabably purchase the whole shebang for a couple of hundred-million...

Mind you, not one company or person owns Marvel Comics... it is in fact owned by several corporations, as detailed here (http://biz.yahoo.com/hd/m/mvl.html). A group of people from all of these companies would probably have to agree to sell off all their shares to a single holder, i.e. you. Now buying the shares of one or more of those people is easy enough, if you've got the moolah, but all of them? Lotta dough, Joe...

More than you wanted to know about the real world around comics, huh?

:D
Chris Piers
10-09-2002, 08:23 AM
I doubt there's any way Marvel would sell Spider-Man. It would be easier to buy Marvel itself. It'd be millions of dollars. Who cares how many millions, the point is moot.
Inkthinker
10-09-2002, 09:04 AM
Apparently for about $10,000,000 or so you could buy out Morgan Stanley (that a company, folks, not a person) and have the most shares...

That's pretty cheap, all things considered.
red7ine
10-09-2002, 09:21 AM
Originally posted by Inkthinker
Apparently for about $10,000,000 or so you could buy out Morgan Stanley (that a company, folks, not a person) and have the most shares...

That's pretty cheap, all things considered.

so.... anybody wanna go in halfsies?


vaught
Popninja
10-09-2002, 10:02 AM
Originally posted by red7ine


so.... anybody wanna go in halfsies?

No, but if we all here at PJ pulled together, we could probably pull it off.

Put me down for $558.49.
The unknown artist
10-09-2002, 11:05 AM
I wanted to buy the rights to Luke Cage at one point :o
Robin Riggs
10-09-2002, 12:10 PM
Spider-Man is an extremely valuable property at the moment. They paid Marvel $10 million up front just for his use in the first movie. I think that if anything happens to Marvel at this point the rights to the characters will transfer directly to Ike Perlmutter. They were put up for collateral for the big bank loan that they needed and he then took over the loan personally. I think that's still how it stands.
Vendetta
10-09-2002, 01:25 PM
Originally posted by red7ine
Jeremy,

send me 2 crisp $100 bills and I'll see what I can do...

me and Joey Q are like this


vaught
oooo oooo can I? can I?
*picks nose*
Devilman
10-09-2002, 06:52 PM
I know the guys who made superman sold him to DC for 24 dollars.
DrVictorVonDoom
10-09-2002, 07:22 PM
But remember to take inflation into account. Here's a handy, scientific table to help:
1920--------------------------2000
$1-----A television-----------A loaf of bread
$10---A toy store------------An action figure
$20---A house and car------A CD