http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/hello-kitty-maker-sanrio-plunges-after-goldman-cuts-price-target.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/hello-kitty-in-mid-life-crisis-as-sanrio-licensing-focus-fades.html

We finally get word from Sanrio what going on:

“Sanrio Co., (8136) maker and licenser of Hello Kitty goods, plunged in Tokyo trading after analysts including Sho Kawano at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut targets for the company, citing a waning outlook for U.S. sales.”

“Kawano at Goldman lowered the estimate for operating profit in the year ending March by 7 percent, citing costs related to the company’s shift back to merchandise sales from a focus on licensing. Sanrio founder Shintaro Tsuji had previously sought to reduce the reliance on marketing Hello Kitty goods by licensing character rights to companies that make different items based on them.”

My Retort:

As a male fan who shops at Sanrio until it closed, the problem is, what’s licensing to us when there noting to buy and nowhere to shop except Sanrio.com . They closing all their US stores, and I do not think big box stores will take up the slack. There are other things they could had done; they could sell other charters like marketing Chococcat and Batz Maru to the males. If I was the CEO I would work The Hub and get Lauren Faust to reboot Hello Kitty and Friends. It worked for Hasbro, if Guys ie Bronies can like My Little Pony they can like Hello Kitty but unlike Hasbro, Sanrio wants the male market with the female market. Sanrio shot themselves in the foot.