IP is the new Real Estate

Real estate is what separates wealthy people from rich people. During the boom of the 1980s, Japanese corporations and investors were sitting on a lot of cash and went looking for investments outside Japan. Real estate in global cities like New York, London, and Paris looked attractive, both for the high returns and as a hedge against currency swings and inflation. That foreign real estate played a big part in Japan's eventual recovery from its financial crisis. In the 2000s, as the economy recovered and the yen got stronger against the US dollar, Japanese investors put money back into foreign real estate, especially in the US and Europe, to diversify and chase higher returns. So real estate is a game changer for getting out of deflation. But what is the new real estate in modern tech?

Intellectual property (IP) is the new real estate. It's a property right that keeps paying off for a long time. Just like real estate, you can buy, sell, license, and lease IP to make money from it. The two have a lot in common.

• Scarcity. Only so much land in one place, only so much IP in one field.
• Licensability. Both can be rented, leased, or licensed for income.
• Appreciation over time. Both can gain value over time. A well-located piece of land or a valuable patent gets worth more as demand for it grows.
• Steady stream of income. Both can bring in steady income for a long time. A landlord collects rent from a tenant every month, and an IP owner collects royalties from licensees or users of the IP.
• Requires maintenance. Both need upkeep to hold their value. A landlord has to keep the property in good condition, and an IP owner has to keep the IP up to date and enforce their rights against infringement.

Japan has leaned on IP through its stagnant economy, too ("the lost decades"). Japan has a long history of making popular IPs that left a big mark on global mass media. Pokemon, Anpanman, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Mario, Gundam, Hello Kitty, Dragon Ball, and so on. These IPs kept Japan competitive in global media, with a solid reputation for creativity and a lot of revenue.

This edge is why Naver and Kakao, two Korean Google, are so paranoid about purchasing IPs. Naver acquired Wattpad, and Kakao acquired Tapas and Radish media. All of them service Web Cartoons (Webtoons) in the US. From an Asian point of view, Hollywood is still the unbeatable champion of global mass media, but the western market has not yet had its "Webtoon Culture Strike," which I think is an unstoppable future that no silicon valley founder saw coming (because they never saw the impact of it.) Over half of the globally popular Korean TV shows are webtoon-based. Webtoon has a decisive edge because:

• Webtoons can be produced by a single person, lowering the opportunity cost compared to a full-on production studio.
• Competing in the OTT market is too expensive (both in customer money and time.)
• Webtoons generally profit from advertising & collab & IP revenue, not customer payment.
• Modern people have a lower attention span to read texts or watch extended TV shows.
• Webtoon creates habit.

For example, for free, I can watch 20 episodes of different Webtoons in 10 minutes on Naver Webtoon and Kakao Webtoon. Remember when Quibi failed? ... but that's a story for another day.