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 Swastakowey wrote:
I have noticed that there exists a group of people who love the idea of making 40k armies. That group then buys an army and paints a couple of models. They then quickly move to a new army do the same thing. Some of these people sell before moving on, others horde.

I personally think its these people who spend a load of cash on GW more so than anyone else. One of my friends is like this. Constantly buys whole armies then sells them really cheap. Loves coming up with army ideas but doesn't look like he actually enjoys playing the game.

Of course there are people who do this and love the game, but in my experience there aren't heaps of those.

The amount of money people from this group spends is huge. Add the cost of a 1800 point army, then (in the case of a friend) multiply that by 10+ armies and it adds up.

Almost like an addiction really.

But other than financial reports there isn't really hard info on GW and their downfall. As much as I think they won't last people have been saying it's coming since before my time.

I'm an 26 year old investment banker on Wall Street in NYC (and yes I play 40k). I'll took a look at their financials and any equity research coverage. GW is a public company folks TICKER is GAW on the LSE. Anyone can access their financial statements.

They ARE tanking. Their 2012 revenue was 131.0M GBP 2013 was 134.6 then 123.3 and 119.5M (2014) their earnings was 14.7 16.3 8.8 7.0M GBP (2014) so they been steadily going down since 2013. The thing is their 2014 COGS (cost of goods sold or the money it takes to actual MAKE the miniatures is only 37.1M so 31% is raw materials/transport/etc cost but their SG&A is 68.4M GBP or a whooping 57% so add that 88% is cost out the window and add in one-time expenses and other extraordinary items the company makes only 7.0M out of 119 top line which is a pathetic 5% profit margin.

I wonder why their SG&A is so high and I'd have to see the UK FSA filings on how much their executives make but clearly they are NOT making a killing. I wouldn't invest in TICKER:GAW. If they sold their miniatures any cheaper they would be losing money. They only make 7.0M GBP a year.

The ideal solution is to raise sales AND cut SG&A to slightly lower prices through a combination of efficiency and higher revenues (by a better price point) but there is so much competition from Warmachine, Infinity, etc right now. Put me in charge of GAW and I'll would cut SG&A, streamline playtest rules through open community playtesting in the UK, and lower prices in hopes of gaining more market share, change the approach to brick and mortar stores, and I would kill some non-selling factions like Sisters of Battle - I mean sorry guys. Basically make a last ditch bid to be great again. If I fail I would bring down the company and bring the END of 40k because no Private Equity shop will do a buyout of a toy company with such pathetic profit margins. I would only take a salary of 175,000 GBP a year to save the company that I love. Also feth Nottingham I'm moving the HQ to some cheap location where its livable. haha

I can argue GAW might be better as a private company like Privateer Press and not have to worry about the market as much. Who wants to do a LBO (Leveraged Buyout) of GAW like Dell did, go private, and put me in charge?

I did some digging on my bloomberg terminal and the CEO of GAW only makes 257,000 GBP a year. The highest paid person is the Chairman with 500k GBP a year but I'd bet he owns a decent slice of the company.

The CEO of GW which at the end of the day is not rocking it with the private jets.

Investment Banking Managing Directors in London make 500-2.0M GBP at decent banks and they are a dime a dozen.

Being the CEO of GAW is NOT lucrative lmao.

Do you know how much a flat in South Kensington or West Village, Manhattan costs?

You'll need to save up for years to afford those esp. after UK or US taxes. Face-palm*


Automatically Appended Next Post:

LordBlades wrote:

 Azreal13 wrote:
Up until recently, the Chairman and CEO were the same person, who also happens to own the largest individual stake in the company (~8% IIRC)

If you think £500k isn't lucrative, no wonder the bankers screwed the economy!

Given the kind of responsibility the CEO of a struggling company has to bear, 500k doesn't seem that much. Think of it like this: other people make 5-10x more for kicking a ball across a patch of grass.

500k is for the Chairman of the Board, the CEO is getting only 257k. The Chairman likely owns a decent % of the company (hence he's like an owner, rather than an employee)

 Azreal13 wrote:

 DorianGray wrote:
Do you know how much a flat in South Kensington or West Village, Manhattan costs?

You'll need to save up for years to afford those esp. after UK or US taxes. Face-palm*

You know neither of those places is near Nottingham right?

You know that Kirby's getting £100Ks from dividends too?

Outside of London, and even then only select parts, £1-2m can get you an astonishing property.

To put into context the CEO of Goldman Sachs received $41.0M (26.21M GBP) in total compensation in 2014. That is more than 100x the compensation of the CEO of Games Workshop.

Lloyd Blankflein is wealthy, the CEO of GW is merely middle class. That's all I'm saying. Among the rank of CEOs, Games Workshop is really far down the totem pole.