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CGC/CCG to be sold...
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Started by carcrawfordfan,

459 posts in this topic

icefires

icefires

Posted
Posted

Drama queen here, back from the dead, as anticipated. I am not intimate with Blackstone, but I certainly know Apollo Global inside and out (Leon Black - some trivia - Leon purchased Edvard Munch's "The Scream"  in 2012 for 119.9 Million $). These two private equities are actually twins. Best of luck to the excellent comic book dealers/collectors here who have no clue as to how private equities function. Nothing is predictable.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted
23 hours ago, D84 said:
On 7/3/2021 at 9:16 PM, mattn792 said:

Like I said, best of luck to you.

And as we say in Texas, "bless your heart."

Here it's "Enjoy your day" with a (thumbsu added for extra eff you emphasis.

That's how we does it on the Blackstone CGC boards

Oh, and go pound sand.

:foryou:

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

Posted
Posted
On 7/1/2021 at 2:22 PM, BabyAteMyDingo said:

For my two cents:

Don't ever forget WE are the market. They will only be as successful as we allow them to be. I love my books before money, mates. Remind them WE are the foundation. We don't work for THEM. THEY work for US. If submissions dry up, they will be holding the bag.

And me Pappa told me "NEVER put all the eggs in one basket."

It really isn't about what 'WE' want. As long as there is a market for 3rd party graded collectibles, there will be submissions. And I don't see that market dying anytime soon.

CGC's turnaround times were (are) horrible, did it slow their submissions down? No.

CGC's quality control was regularly called into question, did it slow their submissions down? No.

Depending on who you talk to, CGC's grading could be... inconsistent at times.... did it slow their submissions down? No.

If anything - the business has proven that you DON'T need to change these things in order to make money hand over fist.

Seems like the perfect business for a bigger dog to buy.

 

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MetalPSI

MetalPSI

Posted
Posted

If someone were to come up with enough start up capital and not mind not making a profit for 5 or more years, a grading company could be made that would blow CGC and voldy out of the water.

Both companies have flaws, when corrected, would be extremely profitable. 

Established base is the hardest part, but once passed, a viable company could arise

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BabyAteMyDingo

BabyAteMyDingo

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Ride the Tiger said:

Go back to the good ole days of 3 grades. Take this whole idea of restoration = practically worthless out of the equation. Go back to a simpler time when a key book didn't cost as much as a car.

Those days will never be seen again.

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miraclemet

miraclemet

Posted
Posted

Blackstone is in the business of optimizing profits. 
CGC has already done the first thing by bringing restoration/pressing in house. This was a delicate thing to do, that could have been very messy, but CGC made efforts to ensure a firewall between their pressing/restoring division and their grading division. 

Easy Blackstone initiative, push books to "add services" when they are submitted.

Bad Idea #1) When a book is submitted for grading that could benefit from a press, they suggest it to the submitter. It adds to total turnaround time, but increases revenue to CGC by getting more books into their pressing pipeline (based on Facebook there are lots of submitters who are unaware, or oblivious to pressing services, and probably would use them if they were "suggested". 

Bad Idea #2) The ebay, virtual evaluation revenue stream could be expanded. Why just have it through ebay? Why not direct thru CGC website? Virtual submittals for electronic assessments. Again, expanding a revenue stream, that can also stretch the current workforce unless they add staff (and hopefully train staff). Or how about go one step further. Dont wait for people to ask for evaluation of books, offer spontaneous ones on books that have lots of bids/watchers? And then build an incentive stream from the virtaul evaluations to physical submittals (credits from the virtual evaluations that get applied to physical submittals). 

Bad Idea #3) CGC is only involved in the early to mid part of a books lifecycle from publishing to collecting to encapsulating to selling. They could expand their role in both the early side (publishing>Collecting) and the late side (selling). On the early side they could expand on their direct from the printer encapsulation programs, or heck even look to move some of the printing onsite (so they can control the printing to ensure the minty-est of copies). They already do a little of this with Dynamic Forces, but what if they did it with actual publishers (DC, Marvel, Image) 

Bad Idea #4) Back to owning more of the collectible lifecycle. Why does CGC increase the value of a book (thru grading/encapsulating) without getting a bigger piece of that value increase? If they owned a sales/auction platform they could not only make money from grading but also a cut of the increased value. Conflict of interest? SURE. But remember Blackstone isnt in the "trusted partner" business, they're in the "make as much money as possible" business. So why not have CGC Auctions. A book can go from pressing, to grading/encapsulating right to the auction block with CGC taking a cut like the other auction houses. That way CGC gets to make money through the ENTIRE lifecycle of the collectible. 

So many bad ideas that could be implemented under the rationale of profits and market expansion... 

 

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bc

bc

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, Ride the Tiger said:

Go back to the good ole days of 3 grades. Take this whole idea of restoration = practically worthless out of the equation. Go back to a simpler time when a key book didn't cost as much as a car.

 

21 minutes ago, BabyAteMyDingo said:

Those days will never be seen again.

You guys must be older than me because "key books" have cost as much as a car since 1973 when an Action #1 sold for $1,800 (the average new car price in '73 was about twice that at $4K according to https://blog.chron.com/carsandtrucks/2016/04/cost-of-a-car-in-the-year-you-were-born/)

Sure, SA keys were way cheaper and BA keys were just hitting the spinner racks, but the big books of the day were garnering prices that would set you up with a nice ride.

-bc

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WolverineX

WolverineX

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, miraclemet said:

Blackstone is in the business of optimizing profits. 
CGC has already done the first thing by bringing restoration/pressing in house. This was a delicate thing to do, that could have been very messy, but CGC made efforts to ensure a firewall between their pressing/restoring division and their grading division. 

Easy Blackstone initiative, push books to "add services" when they are submitted.

Bad Idea #1) When a book is submitted for grading that could benefit from a press, they suggest it to the submitter. It adds to total turnaround time, but increases revenue to CGC by getting more books into their pressing pipeline (based on Facebook there are lots of submitters who are unaware, or oblivious to pressing services, and probably would use them if they were "suggested". 

Bad Idea #2) The ebay, virtual evaluation revenue stream could be expanded. Why just have it through ebay? Why not direct thru CGC website? Virtual submittals for electronic assessments. Again, expanding a revenue stream, that can also stretch the current workforce unless they add staff (and hopefully train staff). Or how about go one step further. Dont wait for people to ask for evaluation of books, offer spontaneous ones on books that have lots of bids/watchers? And then build an incentive stream from the virtaul evaluations to physical submittals (credits from the virtual evaluations that get applied to physical submittals). 

Bad Idea #3) CGC is only involved in the early to mid part of a books lifecycle from publishing to collecting to encapsulating to selling. They could expand their role in both the early side (publishing>Collecting) and the late side (selling). On the early side they could expand on their direct from the printer encapsulation programs, or heck even look to move some of the printing onsite (so they can control the printing to ensure the minty-est of copies). They already do a little of this with Dynamic Forces, but what if they did it with actual publishers (DC, Marvel, Image) 

Bad Idea #4) Back to owning more of the collectible lifecycle. Why does CGC increase the value of a book (thru grading/encapsulating) without getting a bigger piece of that value increase? If they owned a sales/auction platform they could not only make money from grading but also a cut of the increased value. Conflict of interest? SURE. But remember Blackstone isnt in the "trusted partner" business, they're in the "make as much money as possible" business. So why not have CGC Auctions. A book can go from pressing, to grading/encapsulating right to the auction block with CGC taking a cut like the other auction houses. That way CGC gets to make money through the ENTIRE lifecycle of the collectible. 

So many bad ideas that could be implemented under the rationale of profits and market expansion... 

 

Hell why even have an auction site... just own the asset and steal rallyrds idea....

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