The global Hello Kitty economy

Hello Kitty is a character, and also an economy: roughly ¥194 billion in annual net sales at an operating margin near forty percent, earned by a company that manufactures almost nothing it sells. The files in this division take the licensing empire asset by asset, from the public company and its accounts through EVA Air’s themed widebodies, the theme parks on two continents, a real Italian wine, the jewelers, and the factories Sanrio does not own, to the listed stocks that carry the exposure. The same economics repeat in every file: Sanrio owns the rights, and someone else puts up the capital.