For all of you traders who are loyal readers of Entertainment Weekly and are totally psyched about this morning’s Golden Globe nominations (all two of you), Cantor Fitzgerald has a fantastic opportunity in the works. This week, Cantor filed an application with the CFTC to launch an exchange based on Hollywood box office receipts. The proposed Cantor Exchange’s Domestic Box Office Receipt contracts would be a hedging/profiting tool based on the first four weeks of a film’s box office revenues.
It’s doubtful that there’s a lot of demand among actual traders to speculate on the amount of bank Brad Pitt’s next flick will bring in, but Cantor’s already experienced at this sort of thing – it owns the Hollywood Stock Exchange, a virtual exchange where you can buy fake stocks and bonds on actors and movies.
But if you don’t want to buy a piece of Brad Pitt, there’s always David Bowie. In 1997, the 80s rocker issued Bowie Bonds, based on the first 25 albums of his collection, which were bought for $55 million by the Prudential Insurance Company, according to Wikipedia. The Wikipedia entry says “in March 2004, Moody’s Investors Service lowered the bonds from an A3 rating (the seventh highest rating) to Baa3, one notch above junk status. This downgrade was prompted by lower-than-expected revenue due to weakness in sales for recorded music.”
Planning on trading Bowie or Brad? Let us know in the comments below.
