Word: bookers
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...When Booker McConnell & Co., a 150-year-old British-owned sugar and rum company, acquired controlling interest in Master Spy James Bond four years ago, the deal was in deference to Ian Fleming. Bond's creator and Booker's then Chairman Sir Jock Campbell had been Eton classmates, continued to be golfing partners. They also were mutual enthusiasts about the West Indies, where Bond frequently cavorted and where Booker owns eight sugar plantations, as well as investments in ships and stores. When Fleming, during a golf game, complained that no one would buy his Bond-holding Glidrose Productions...
Rolling In. Today Britons wonder who did the favor for whom. Fleming died in 1964, and Sir Jock, now 55, retired last year. Still, in acquiring the rights to Bond books-79 million published so far-Booker cleared $360,000 in royalties. Equally sugary are the royalties worldwide on 007 toiletries, sweatshirts, wet suits and a percentage on James Bond movies...
With money like that rolling in, Booker's bosses decided that corporate authorship was a profitable hedge against what Chairman David Powell, who succeeded Sir Jock, calls "the hazards of tropical agriculture." Thus the company has bought controlling interest in the works of such British authors as John and Penelope Mortimer, Gavin Lyall, Francis Clifford and Robert Bolt (A Man For All Seasons). Now, in its latest acquisition, Booker has signed on an author every bit as big as Ian Fleming. For an amount it refuses to disclose, the company has acquired 51% of everything published since...
Amusing & Exciting. The deals are as profitable to writers as they are to Booker. Under British tax laws, an unincorporated writer can keep only about $20,000 out of $70,000 in income. Even if they incorporate themselves, as Miss Christie did in 1955, the gam is only another $20,000, and earnings must be distributed and taxed. Under Booker's corporate shield, tax savings are higher and earnings can accumulate as capital. Booker, which pays its stable fixed salaries, also negotiates film rights and merchandise tie-ins, thereby leaves them free to write-and make more money...
...amusing and exciting diversification," observes Powell, who adds that Booker intends to get no more deeply involved in publishing. Although its authors are providing Booker with its best return on investment, the company also is the biggest importer of rum into Britain, where rum is the second most popular drink after gin. Overall company sales are now $80 million, and profits last year...