What this is
How the Pokémon bust hit 4Kids, its Western licensing agent: Pokémon revenue fell from $83.6m in 2000 to $27.4m in 2001 (−67%). Magic players fell from 6m to 5m.
How it’s built
- 4Kids’ annual reports say Pokémon was about 95% of its $88.0m revenue in 2000 and 66% of $41.5m in 2001: $83.6m and $27.4m.
- Total 4Kids revenue fell 52.8%.
- Wizards of the Coast’s own statements put Magic players at ‘more than’ 6m in 1999 and 5m in 2001.
What we assumed
- 4Kids’ ‘approximately’ 95% and 66% are taken as exact.The filings give no more precision; a point either way does not change the picture.
- The Magic player counts are floors.Stated as ‘more than’; the 17% fall is approximate.
Sanity check
4Kids’ revenue is commission on licensing, not card or merchandise sales, so it shows the bust’s direction and scale, not retail spending.
Where it comes from
Our calculation from other figures in the trainer’s notes:
Show the working
- 0.95 x 87.997 = 83.60
- 0.66 x 41.538 = 27.42
- change -0.672 (reproduces on this run's double-pass rows)
- total 41.538/87.997-1 = -0.528
- Magic players 'more than' 6m -> 5m = -16.7% (floors, company statements)