00:00Chris, tell us a little bit more about this business model that Authentic has really kind of perfected here.
00:06Yeah, this is one of those, you know, why didn't I think of that idea?
00:09This is a company, no manufacturing plants, no inventory to ship across the globe.
00:15Its licensor controls the intellectual property behind all these brands, as you mentioned,
00:20everything from personalities like David Beckham to Care Bears.
00:24And then they collect a royalty, usually 6%, 7% of sales.
00:30And their job is to go out and find new licensees and create new live events and things like that
00:35as ways to generate revenue.
00:37Okay, so the latest development here is that they have a partnership with a podcaster, Stephen Bartlett.
00:43How does that fit into their business model?
00:45Well, they've done, you know, many of these things are well-known retailers, the brands that they control.
00:51They also moved a bit into the entertainment space.
00:54That's about 20%.
00:55But the CEO, Matt Maddox, told us that the influencer arena is really going to be a huge source of
01:01growth over the next decade.
01:02Obviously, people like Mr. Beast have already done that.
01:06But they see an opportunity by partnering with people like Bartlett to reach more of the influencer community and handle
01:13their licensing,
01:14handle their live events, that kind of thing.
01:16I liked what you said about how the business is kind of a, why didn't I think of that?
01:20It feels very asset-light, right?
01:21No manufacturing, no inventory.
01:23What do we know about authentic brands' financials?
01:28The CEO shared quite a lot of information.
01:32$2.2 billion in revenue.
01:34And this is the amazing part.
01:36$1.8 billion in EBITDA, profits of over 80% profit margin.
01:42And that's, you know, the growth is coming, he said, from both organic growth, about 7%, 8% a year.
01:50But also, when you add on all the acquisitions they've done, it's more than 20% a year.
01:55So, to keep that going, they can, you know, raise more cash if they do that IPO.
02:00Yeah, pretty incredible.
02:01You mentioned Care Bear.
02:01They've also acquired the Guest brand as well in recent years.
02:05Now, in terms of an IPO, they're thinking 2027.
02:09Did they get more specific than that?
02:11They said possibly early part.
02:13They really haven't committed to it.
02:14But Matt Maddox says, you know, they're all prepped.
02:18They're ready to go.
02:19I think some of the moves they're making, diversifying the business a little bit, making these acquisitions,
02:24they're all sort of lining them up to, you know, be a more attractive purchase for investors.
Comments