IDW Publishing parent company IDW Media Holdings released its fourth quarter and full fiscal year (FY) 2019 results, a report which included the following points:
- A fourth quarter net loss per share of $2.29 on revenue of $33.9 million and a full fiscal year net loss per share of $3.90 on revenue of $62.6 million for the three months and twelve months ended October 31, 2019, respectively.
- IDW Publishing, home to series including Transformers (2019), Transformers: Galaxies and Transformers vs. The Terminator, posting a decline in FY revenue from a flat 2018 to 2019
- IDW Entertainment, home to television series including “V Wars,” “October Faction,” “Locke & Key” and “Wynonna Earp,” posting a revenue increase over the same span while the legacy production finance agreements utilized for these shows and production cost overages resulted in significant losses
- The exploration of a national stock exchange listing
- A goal for all divisions of IDW to operate profitably by fiscal 2021
Ready to crunch more numbers? Dive into the full press release here, review our coverage of IDW’s Transformers Comics April 2020 solicitations, then join in the discussion on the 2005 boards!
justiceg
@Matthew Haskett – while potentially OT I also wanted to echo what Pluto said above. It's refreshing to see well-thought out comments or discussions like yours vs. well, the more socially misanthropic. =) Stay awesome!
pluto
1) yes, apologies if I didn't make it clear that your comments had nothing to do with mine re: censorable content.
2) thank you for your candour and optimism, it is appreciated! Mind you, the tfw commentariat has a character and that character only infrequently inspires my full throated interest or empathy. Thanks for being a part of it that does.
Matthew Haskett
Somewhat, Pluto. However I was specifically calling out evidence of a [negative] correlation between things like positive financial outcomes and censorship.
I find any claim to absolute knowledge of outcomes based on these factors highly dubious. Not only because of the extreme difficulty of defining the concepts and designing an effective study but also due to a general belief that censorship frequently backfires and increases consumption far beyond reasonable expectations.
And just to be clear, none of what I’m saying has anything to do with whether or not users here are being justly or unjustly censored for criticism or anything else.
In addition, I hope that anyone reading my posts is aware that I am personally in favor of strong discourse and, for the most part, opposed to censorship.
What makes some of these conversations frustrating to me here in these forums is a general failure to agree that censorship means different things to different people. This results in even the most banal discussions sidelining into debates over language usage, persecution, and literary criticism.
(Note: I’ve found this seemingly single-minded focus on pressing the matter of censorship to be a somewhat newer phenomenon which has resulted from the highly polarized global political culture of today. This may not stand out to most people, but from the perspective of a teacher and researcher, it is both noteworthy and problematic.)
My advice—if you choose to heed it; if you can accept that there is some value in it—is to use your interactions here (and elsewhere, of course) to grow irrespective of you ability to, or to be, informed, convinced, persuaded, or appreciated by your interlocutors. Believe me when I tell you that I’ve fought many of these same battles. What makes those battles worthwhile is that I accept that the instances of me being an informed and effective contributor to the discussion is both the result of and far outnumbered by the number of times I’ve been little more than an overconfident, privileged, ignorant, unsympathetic bonehead. Fortunately I developed enough confidence to get over myself, accept responsibility for my behavior, apologize, and hone my ability to contribute meaningfully to all the various communities I’m a part of. The first step wasn’t easy to make—it can be difficult to accept ourselves for who we are and still remain confident—but if you can make it and you’re anything like me, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to admit when your wrong and ask for forgiveness if necessary. Not always, but most the time.
Focksbot
The key word here is "believes". Some people "believe" the earth is flat.
It's very clear from what he's posted that Dire51 had posts removed for breaking forum rules (as have I, occasionally), not for criticising the book.
pluto
1) so uhhh, I hope you know this isn't the only place to talk about comics on the internet?
2) dire51 was routinely censored because of censorable content, ergo take your moaning up with the mods
3) I think the point that Haskett was trying to make is these claims about personal prosecution are indefensible with regard to IDW's financial woes (see point 1).
misfire19d
Are you seriously asking for research findings or some such nonsense? Give me a break. Deny it all you want but Dire 51 isn’t the only one who believes he was silenced for being critical of these comics.
To be fair, these forums have improved in their tolerance of different points of view lately.
Matthew Haskett
And your point is based off of what specifically? Intuition?
If you’ve got an insider job in the field of analytics, I’d love to know the data on this one.
AcademyofDrX
1: People want to twist facts for their own agenda. IDW publishes a lot of books, and as I mentioned earlier, their non-comics businesses are more important to their bottom line.
2. IDW has licensed, company-owned, and creator-owned books. IDW owns the media rights for Wynonna Earp, V-Wars, and Locke & Key. Others of their independent comics, especially recent titles, are creator-owned. The success of Image in the creator-owned space has made that more standard than it had been in years past. Walking Dead proved that a creator-owned book can still sell.
Deepsea
Question 1: Why does everyone treat this as if it's the fault of 1 comic series? Like IDW does a lot of series and minis right?
Question 2: for non-lisenced properties does idw let the creator keep the rights, or does the company get them?
Dire 51
My point was about how the inability to criticize a book diminishes enthusiasm to purchase the book, which contributes to faltering sales.
Matty
Keep the focus on the topic of the thread. If you have issues with moderator action you can follow up with me directly. Thanks.
AcademyofDrX
This a thread about IDW's earning reports and you're bringing up communist oppression? I'm shocked to learn you don't follow forum posting rules.
I think the broader point is that your experience is not representative of others', and there are plenty of other people who are able to criticize the book without being cut off.
My dude, please consider that maybe the problem isn't with everyone else.
Dire 51
I've literally had over a dozen posts deleted for drawing political comparisons. That's censorship, thus inability to criticize… And a violation of tfw's somewhat arbitrary rules. (No politics.) Furthermore, criticism of moderator actions get posts deleted and accounts suspended. Again, censorship and an inability to criticize. For the record, I'd be glad to share screenshots in private if you doubt my claim.
Secondly, I did drop the book at issue 12.
And as a tangential personal opinion, considering the cornucopia of vile material on the internet, one person getting censored, account suspended, and almost banned for vocally disliking windblade and also citing facts about communist death tolls in the 20th century is utterly ridiculous.
Focksbot
It's pretty hard to find the phrase "everyone I disagree with is a Nazi", except when it's being used by people who are strawmanning an opponent's argument.
I agree with you that the idea of fascism has seen some slippage. What people are often pointing out is reactionary conservatism – which has, in fairness, been the historical precedent to fascism.
Grand Slam
It's pretty hard to misread the subtleties of "everyone I disagree with is a Nazi," especially when it typically comes from someone who doesn't even know what fascism actually is.
Predakwon
Seriously, I have the money to spend IDW. Finish what you started, along the the GI Joe Marvel HCs…..
Focksbot
This board was full of criticisms for those books, every week, of much colour and variety. There was no "inability to criticise"; it's just that the criticisms you wanted to make were ones which others felt were unfair. But as you say, you'd already decided the book was "lacklustre". I'm deeply skeptical of your claim that you would have kept on buying it if you'd been able to slag it off without any riposte.
The problem here is – and has been for a long time – that people think these labels are insulting rather than merely descriptive, are a punishment being meted out rather than an attempt to openly discuss an aspect of lived reality. It's beyond doubt that our culture is soaked to the bone in examples of gendered and racial prejudice, and that this splurts out in all kinds of expressions of distaste – for example, in objections to books that deal in emotional complexity on the basis that they've been 'feminised', and the accompanying association of feminity with weakness and irrelevance.
I've been on these boards for years now. Generally speaking, people do not say "You are a homophobe" – they say a particular view someone might have expressed comes across as homophobic or reactionary, usually because it displays a frustration or intolerance with aspects of fiction that are designed to be more inclusive.
-Isms and -phobias aren't definitive accounts of who you are. It's not as if your soul is damned if you don't like girly stuff. It's just that these are deeply ingrained patterns of thought that are not nice or healthy, and we are trying to collectively move away from them.
AcademyofDrX
I could do a long, serious analysis of how right-wing culture war talking points have infiltrated all internet fan communities and made them toxic, but this thread is ostensibly about the financial performance of the parent company of a comics publisher.
So instead I'm going to give the "get woke, go broke" crowd all the consideration they deserve. Which is none.