Understanding Iconic Value

I love Ike Perlmutter.  He understood that Iron Man, The Hulk, Spiderman and 4,997 other characters had tremendous long term value.  He took hold of Marvel Entertainment about a decade ago, and he deserves his $1.4 billion payday - IMO. image

Disney could have bought them years ago, but they waited to pay a much higher price and their own stock is in the doldrums.  It will still be a good deal for Disney, but they could have purchased it cheaper.  Disney paused when they should have pounced.

Cultural memes like The Fantastic Four as more valuable than oil reserves because they not only have intrinsic value, but also scarcity value, and they are never used up.  There have to be others out there, and there must be ones that relate to every product and service.  Put another way, every back yard has oil in it if you know how to look!

eBay Sells Skype – should Facebook have bought them?

Designing Your Customer’s Decisions