Hamlet Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Has anyone read their financials? Yuck. They are not a good business. I think this is it. 1st quarter 2014 they turned a profit of almost $700,000 1st quarter 2015 they had a loss of almost $1 million They added four more shows - but revenue per event was 1/2 of what it was the year before. They are facing a huge amount of competition. There are a lot more shows springing up all over the place. IDK what their long term prospects are. But in the near term it doesn't look like a stock or company that will enjoy success doing what they have done in the past. They've lost like $10 million over the last 4-5 years. Those 4-5 years were pretty good for most comic-related businesses. There is a reason they are a penny stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doktor Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 The problem they have is that they made the mistake many companies do: belief that infinite expansion is possible & end up over-exposing & therefore undercutting their own product. They don't spread their shows out geographically and schedule-wise nearly far enough. Of course it's probably more expensive to move from east coast to mid-west to mountain to west and then down into the south before circling back north & instead want to move their equipment just over a few hundred miles at a time for the show 2 weeks later, but fail to realize that that dis-incentivizes people from coming from the city of that next show to the present one because they can just wait a few weeks & the show will be local for them. So instead of getting people to hit 2 or 3 shows in a year (1 local and the other 1 or 2 a few hundred miles in one direction or another) with enough time between them to afford the travel & show budget, they just hit the one local one cause it's only a few weeks later and they don't have to travel & can't afford to pay to travel to 1 city & buy, stay home 2 weeks later but still buy, and then travel to the other show that's a few hundred miles in the other direction & buy yet only a month after the local one or something. They want to double dip on customers (which is fine), but damn sure don't know how to do it effectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Maybe they invested in their top ten hot books? They would have gone bankrupt decades ago if they had done this!!! From the Heritage auctions, it looks like they were smart and stayed far away from the books and picked up the original art instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TupennyConan Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 They took a whoopin' in Indy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Maybe it has something to do with the large amount of shows they have been doing that have been complete disasters. You mean like their China show? http://www.twoamericansinchina.com/2015/05/the-big-con-nightmare-guangzhou-comic-con.html They moved the venue to a tent and many people were stuck outside inline in the heat hours past the open because they wouldn't let people in until others left. By 12:00 the celebrities started arriving, and they were not happy with what they saw. Thousands of guests and fans were still standing outside in the broiling sun, and inside, it was so crowded there weren’t even any chairs for them to sit and sign autographs. ...and it gets better About 2:30, the organizers announced that no one else would be allowed inside (not that they had let anyone in since about noon) and only VIP ticket-holders would be allowed inside on Sunday. A mini riot broke out, which caused the celebrity guests to be evacuated the police to form a human barricade around the tent. The organizers then said they would issue refunds for all the regular ticket holders, but they didn’t give any directions about how to get the refund. We have contacted event organizers directly as well as Wizard World and Coke via their website, Facebook, and Twitter, all to no response, so we have not received any refunds. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamlet Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 It is not clear to me why a company doing this badly financially would be messing around in China in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 It is not clear to me why a company doing this badly financially would be messing around in China in the first place. Was this a real Wizard show or did they simply license their name out, ala Trump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttock Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 The problem they have is that they made the mistake many companies do: belief that infinite expansion is possible & end up over-exposing & therefore undercutting their own product. They don't spread their shows out geographically and schedule-wise nearly far enough. Of course it's probably more expensive to move from east coast to mid-west to mountain to west and then down into the south before circling back north & instead want to move their equipment just over a few hundred miles at a time for the show 2 weeks later, but fail to realize that that dis-incentivizes people from coming from the city of that next show to the present one because they can just wait a few weeks & the show will be local for them. So instead of getting people to hit 2 or 3 shows in a year (1 local and the other 1 or 2 a few hundred miles in one direction or another) with enough time between them to afford the travel & show budget, they just hit the one local one cause it's only a few weeks later and they don't have to travel & can't afford to pay to travel to 1 city & buy, stay home 2 weeks later but still buy, and then travel to the other show that's a few hundred miles in the other direction & buy yet only a month after the local one or something. They want to double dip on customers (which is fine), but damn sure don't know how to do it effectively. Their other problem is that they have a sleazy business model. Let some local community set up a big show, then swoop in after all the hard work has been done and try and steal a big cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageComics Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 The problem they have is that they made the mistake many companies do: belief that infinite expansion is possible & end up over-exposing & therefore undercutting their own product. They don't spread their shows out geographically and schedule-wise nearly far enough. Of course it's probably more expensive to move from east coast to mid-west to mountain to west and then down into the south before circling back north & instead want to move their equipment just over a few hundred miles at a time for the show 2 weeks later, but fail to realize that that dis-incentivizes people from coming from the city of that next show to the present one because they can just wait a few weeks & the show will be local for them. So instead of getting people to hit 2 or 3 shows in a year (1 local and the other 1 or 2 a few hundred miles in one direction or another) with enough time between them to afford the travel & show budget, they just hit the one local one cause it's only a few weeks later and they don't have to travel & can't afford to pay to travel to 1 city & buy, stay home 2 weeks later but still buy, and then travel to the other show that's a few hundred miles in the other direction & buy yet only a month after the local one or something. They want to double dip on customers (which is fine), but damn sure don't know how to do it effectively. Their other problem is that they have a sleazy business model. Let some local community set up a big show, then swoop in after all the hard work has been done and try and steal a big cut. While I'm friends with some of the people at Wizard and they are nice people in person I'm not overly ecstatic about how they go about putting on shows. There's something to be said for building a show slowly and steadily over time. Reed has been growing both NYC and C2E2 steadily and while C2E2 has it's struggles it seems to be doing better every year. It's too bad that they Wizard doesn't just focus on making each show a great show and doing fewer shows rather than just throwing darts and seeing what sticks, which is the perception that the general public seems to have. Those that follow shows closely anyway. Philadelphia used to be a spectacular show and I was there in May and it now looks like a Flea Market. Shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TupennyConan Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Every market they operate in represents an opportunity for a better show to arise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageComics Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Every market they operate in represents an opportunity for a better show to arise. You guys have done a terrific job with your shows. I haven't been but I hear good things about them. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aweandlorder Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Stock (WIZD) down another 42% today after getting pummeled 28% last Friday on no apparent news. Full disclosure I have (fortunately at this point), a very small position in the stock. It's because they gave Carbo a TV Show. I'd sell all my stock after finding that out! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/contv-launches-original-series-comic-100000789.html What a crack up. I saw him and some guys from Sparkle City set up at a flea market last sunday. He didn't mention it to me. Has anybody seen it? Is it worth watching? Just watching Mike Carbo is worth watching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aweandlorder Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 here he is with the chuckster "POP CHASERS" - MIKE CARBONARO & COMPANY from Jesse Block on Vimeo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian Comics Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 here he is with the chuckster "POP CHASERS" - MIKE CARBONARO & COMPANY from Jesse Block on Vimeo. Did I really just watch all 24 minutes of that???Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonman5 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Would it be wise to invest in Wizard stock now? Its tempting, because they're close to their 52 week low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meeklo Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Would it be wise to invest in Wizard stock now? Its tempting, because they're close to their 52 week low. 52 always sounds like a winning number to reboot on…. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonman5 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Would it be wise to invest in Wizard stock now? Its tempting, because they're close to their 52 week low. 52 always sounds like a winning number to reboot on…. I guess I was asking for that by saying 52 weeks rather than one year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdoginohio Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Almost everything down. I think they are still better than a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aweandlorder Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 here he is with the chuckster "POP CHASERS" - MIKE CARBONARO & COMPANY from Jesse Block on Vimeo. Did I really just watch all 24 minutes of that???Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus308win Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
