Mythic Markets

On 8/2/2020 at 1:41 PM, wombat said:

It appears no one actually owns a share of a comic. They own a share of a company that owns a comic. Maybe I'm missing something. 

In essence, you do own a share of the comic (or other asset).  I'll break it down.

You can't easily part out a comic book between multiple people where 10 people take a single page home, and you couldn't part out a company like Apple where somebody owns a part of the iPhone tooling and another owns a faucet in the micro-kitchen, etc.  We needed to create a structure that could be split into representative shares and sold.  That's where the LLC structure comes in.  That company exists solely to own and hold that comic book in title, is parted out and securitized, and sold.  Investors are buying a piece of that company in basically the same way as investors buy a piece of Apple when purchasing its stock.

On 8/2/2020 at 2:17 PM, bb8 said:

'Sponsorship, exhibits, etc'? That sounds pretty vague. I would want to know much more about your business model before I would ever invest (if I were interested). What happens if the 'company' goes belly-up because the old paper can't generate a good enough revenue stream? The asset would be sold with creditors taking the lion's share while the shareholder is left with pennies on the dollar or nothing at all. The opportunity cost here is just too much for me to ever invest.

The LLCs are financially supported by the Manager (INC parent company) until such time as they become self-supporting.  In the case you're describing, the LLC would simply liquidate the asset at market value, and distribute the proceeds to shareholders of the LLC, based upon their pro rata ownership.  The LLC structure is specifically designed to shield the asset and its company's shareholders from any liabilities of the Manager or other assets.

On 7/31/2020 at 10:52 AM, GM8 said:

I only see AF 15 7.0 on your site. What other books do you have?

How is ownership structured differently than RallyRd?>

Hi @GM8, although I can't speak on specifics of their business, the general ownership structure is the same. Each asset is its own LLC, which is split into shares, securitized, and shares sold in an IPO. Although the shares are generally non-voting, sentiment is taken for the disposition of the assets when private offers are received. In addition to AF15, other comics we're preparing for IPO (but not yet listed) include Fantastic Four #1, All-Star Comics #8, Journey into Mystery #83, and more.

On 8/1/2020 at 11:08 AM, bb8 said:

I don't think people are getting the gist of what's going on here. I honestly don't think this business model is designed to sell the actual asset once obtained. The company sells fractional shares of a desirable, unobtainable otherwise asset, obtains the asset, and then sits on it and allows fractional owners to buy and sell their stake. The allure to the investor is having stake in something they could not otherwise obtain. The overall value of the comic after it's purchased doesn't really matter. What matters is how badly someone will want their little piece. And every 90 days they'll be able to trade in a certain window set by the company.

What I don't understand is how the company is going to monetize trading. Initially, sure, they take the leftover money after the book is purchased. Financial markets make money by charging a transaction fee to buyers. I'm assuming running the market would have costs associated, but RallyRd has said they don't do that. Maybe they will in the future? It's zero now but as it gets popular (they hope) they'll be able to charge?

Bottom line is that the draw is partial ownership. The asset's overall value is not important unless the comic is sold. Who gets to decide that? RallRD / Mythic Markets or some majority of shareholders? That I'm not sure.

Now, having said this I think this is a stupid investment vehicle. The asset produces nothing and has no intrinsic value. Public companies, though flawed, produce goods and/or services and provide employment for many, many people; and gold at least has intrinsic, anciently-established value. That said, the books sitting in my collection do nothing either. But at least I hold them and can make sweet, sweet love to them. More importantly, I have final say over whether I want to sell them.

Some of our investors are drawn to the investment opportunity and return potential, while others are excited about owning a stake in that rare, out of reach thing. Ultimately, supply and demand of the shares will determine the value of the unique asset being traded amongst many investors, and not necessarily the value of the book to a single person. This is the major paradigm shift of our platforms. However, it's a shift that most people aren't yet accustomed to and, as low-cap companies with relatively low liquidity today, trading periods are spaced out to batch volume.

Each of our companies may pursue different long term business models, but the primary source of our revenue will not be in the short-term turnover of the assets, fees baked into the initial offerings, or trading. We work with registered broker-dealers partners to enable our services, and cannot legally collect commissions on trading without registered reps. Although it may change in the future, investors' expectations are that trading remain commission-free, which we work hard (and at great expense) to offer.

As previously mentioned, the shares are non-voting for a few key reasons, one of which is to prevent hostile takeovers by major shareholders. Each asset is its own company and capable of generating revenue through a variety of methods including sponsorship, exhibits, etc.

As with art and artifacts, the value of comic books, collectible cards, etc can be attributed to their intrinsic social and cultural value, and by those who want or care about them. They've been attributed value by collectors/investors, as well as by the fans (old and new). Superhero films have been an amazing boon to comic collectors, creating enormous cultural awareness around these stories. Platforms like Mythic Markets give people access to this market that they previously lacked the awareness or financial capacity for. For others, it's an opportunity to diversify and unlock liquidity.

On 7/24/2020 at 10:01 PM, TheGeneral said:

Wow, I hadn't heard of Rallyrd before. Seems like this type of business model is unfortunately becoming more popular with collectibles.

A while back I was reading about another fractional share investment company called Mythic Markets (https://mythicmarkets.com/marketplace). I haven't checked their website in a while, but it looks like they are currently selling shares of an AF 15 graded at 7.0. They were doing Magic the Gathering related shares and there was a lot of discussion on Reddit about their legitimacy. Here's a link to a thread made by the co-founder: https://old.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/gx6c5f/im_the_cofounder_ceo_of_mythic_markets_ama/?sort=top

Hi, I'm Joe, the co-founder & CEO of Mythic Markets.  One of our Amazing Fantasy #15 investors referred me to this thread.

It's clear there's a lot of questions about how alternative investment platforms like ours work and, while I can only speak for Mythic Markets, I'd be happy to start a thread to answer them.