Imaginary Stocks To Buy (a musing)

Imaginary Stocks To Buy

An investment review of the fictional corporations of comic books and manga

DG Stewart, 18 July 2016

In 2011, Forbes, a business magazine, listed the twenty-five fictional companies out of the realm of comic books and manga, there were only three that made the cut in Forbes’ list:

a. Wayne Enterprises (published by DC Comics), partly-owned by Bruce Wayne (also known as Batman), worth $31.3 billion and number 11 on the list

b. Stark Industries (published by Marvel Comics), partly owned by technological savant Iron Man (Tony Stark), at number 16 on the list, worth $20.3 billion

c. Oscorp, owned by one of Spider-Man’s many adversaries (published by Marvel Comics) valued at a mere $3.1 billion and ranked at number 23 on the list.

But this review omitted many companies that would be worthy of investment if they were actually in existence. Some of these are very large indeed and would appear to be trading very profitably by one means or another.

The list below assumes that you have an appetite for investing in weapons manufacturers and high tech companies. If you are looking to diversify your imaginary stock portfolio into agribusiness or into property developers, then this selection of fictional corporate behemoths probably is not for you.

a. LexCorp Incorporated

Founded: 1972

CEO and majority shareholder: Lex Luthor

Value: $10.1 billion (Source – Forbes)

Type of business: airline (LexAir), oil production (LexOil), media (WLEX)

(First appearing in DC Comics in 1972, LexCorp is owned by Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor.)

b. Stagg Industries

Founded: 1965

CEO: Simon Stagg

Value: $ 24.78 billion (equivalent to Wesfarmers – ASX: WES)

Type of business: subsidiaries include Stagg Mining Company, Stagg Cruise Lines, and Stagg Robotics; engineering, chemistry and genetics

(First appearing in DC Comics in 1965, Stagg Industries’ Simon Stagg is fundmentally opposed to his daughter marrying the shape-changing super hero, Metamorpho.)

c. Ferris Aircraft

Founded: 1959

Majority shareholder: Carol Ferris

Value: $9 billion (equivalent to sale price of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation)

Type of business: aerospace and defence; airline company (FerrisAir)

(First appearing in DC Comics in 1959, Ferris Aircraft is a sometimes-employer of superhero Green Lantern.)

d. Anaheim Electronics

Founded: 1979

CEO: Melanie Hue Carbine

Value: $69.3 billion (equivalent to Lockheed Martin, NYSE: LMT)

Type of business: a conglomerate consisting of over 150 subsidiaries including an advanced heavy weapons business, a cosmetics business, travel agency, resort space colonies developer and operator, credit cards financial services

(Published as, amongst other things, a Japanese manga comic Sunrise Inc / Bandai Namco Holdings, Anaheim Electronics manufacturers enormous armoured suits called called “Mobile Suits Gundam” which was first published in 1979.)

e. Seburo

Founded: 1989

CEO: Masamune Shirow

Value: $ 2.38 billion (equivalent to the same value as Glock Ges.m.b.H)

Type of business: small arms manufacturer

(First appearing in 1989, Seburo-branded weapons appear in the works of manga artist Masamune Shirow, including classics such as “Appleseed”, “Ghost in the Shell”, and “Dominion”.)



f. Roxxon Energy Corporation

Founded: 1974

CEO: Dario Agger

Value: $170.81 billion (equivalent to ExxonMobil, NYSE: XOM)

Type of business: oil production, mining, robotics, banking

(First appearing in 1974, Roxxon can be seen in Marvel Comic. It is an “evil” corporation which appears in titles such as “Captain America” and “Thor”.)

g. STAR Laboratories

Founded: 1971

CEO: Harrison Wells

Value: $36.55 billion (equivalent to GlaxoSmithKline, LON:GSK)

Type of business: Advanced technologies research; genetics research, disease control; marine biology research; robotics research, others.

(STAR Labs is very frequently seen in a variety of DC Comics’ publications including “Superman” and “Justice League of America”, and first appeared in 1971.)

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