WATCHTOWER SALES!

Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York

25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, 11201

718-560-5000

www.jw-media.org

Revenue: $951 million

Industry: Publishing

President: Milton Henshel

Employees: 3,415

It takes a lot of printing to supply more than 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses with the materials for their ministry. One publication, Watchtower, now has an average print run of 23 million copies twice per month, an increase of 7.5 percent over last year.

"Our report for the year is different from a Wall Street company," said vice president George Couch. Indeed, the company's employees are volunteers who live and work in the Brooklyn complex.

. http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-cvtop52369349sep17.story?coll=ny%2Dbusiness%2Dprint

Yakki Da

Kent

I need more BOE letters, KMs and other material. Those who can send it to me - please do! The new section will be interesting!!

Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
http://watchtower.observer.org

I wonder what they do with all that money that they make. Does anybody have any ideas?

"Hand me that whiskey, I need to consult the spirit."-J.F. Rutherford

Did I read that correctly?!!!

24th on a list of the TOP 40 NYC Corporations -- up there with the likes of Hearst and Trump and several BIG name investment, accounting, and insurance firms?

And done with "slave" labor, too!

outnfree

Par dessus toutes choses, soyez bons. La bonte est ce qui ressemble le plus a Dieu et ce qui desarme le plus les hommes -- Lacordaire

Thank Kent for posting this. Some years ago I obtained a corporate credit report showing the Society with $1.4 Billion in revenue. A couple of years later I received another report that their income was $1.2 Billion. Now several years after that, their income-revenue is $951 Million.

Since all these are USA figures, it does suggest a decline. Altough I believe that when the Society sets up printing and distribution operations in a country, the revenue shifts to that branch. If this is the case the Society may well have a similar income to its earlier reports, but now simply spread abroad.

What do you make of this?: I find it fascinating that the Society now allows itself to be noted on a report like this, as they used to shy completely away from these types of exposure. Also, they are shown on the list of "non-government" organizations having a relationship with the UN. Again, I am surprised at the exposure and any connection with an organization they once condemned as the Image of the Wild Beast. Thanks again for this. - Amazing

Kent,

Thankyou for posting all the info that you do. This was particularly interesting as I have always wanted to know how much money is in the ORG..........well....whew.........where does it all go???????

Ana

ps.....Kent, I like researching, but what are BOE letters and things that you are looking for.......I am a search engine freak!!!

Please bear in mind that this is a "corporate" report for ONLY
the Watchtower Society of New York, which publishes magazines, books and the like. Kent is quite right in noting this is SALES revenue, possibly not up to date because it lists Milton Henschel as president rather than Max Larson. This is the revenue they LET you see. They have been masters at hiding money, for a very long time.

Remember that the Watch Tower Society of Pennsylvania has considerable revenue from a number of sources, including convention "contributions." I believe Expatbrit posted some specifics awhile back.

Someone ought to put all the figures together for BOTH corporations.

As to Jayhawk's question, let it be noted the Society has been extremely inefficient, despite the stories to the contrary. Maximus has quoted George Couch as saying "one half the Bethel family supported the other half." They've been chopping away at costs for over a year now, all over the world. They were extremely cash rich for awhile. While they made a killing when the U.S. market was in its heyday, they also experienced its losses. Insiders have reported the Society has been very good at hiding money.

Expect to see increased calls for "relief" donations.

Has anyone pictured the Brooklyn Boyz in Money yesterday? Which stocks did they sell? One they will hang onto is Biopure, maker of Hemopure. "Cow's blood--not just for pagans any more."

.

ladonna,

I think BOE mean "bobdy of elders" letters which are letter from Brooklyn Headquarters to the local congregations but for only the elders to read.

thats it...no more contributions from me..
they dont need it

Roybatty,
Thanks for that........I don't think I will have much of a chance to get my hands on those..but one never knows.....
Ana

Some of you asked what they do with all this money. You have to remember, that this is gross income. There is no report of their expenses, so it is not possible to know their profit margin. It quite possible, that they could loose money this year with declining sales and a significant drop in the stock market.

I'm with you Amazing. I'm not sure why or how this would be to the Society's advantage to let this cat out of the bag. As a privately held corporation, they don't need to publish this sort of stuff.

On the other hand, it would seem that they lost a little money.

The figures on the Pennsylvania company are here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=5455&site=3#64970

The Penn. company has revenue of $79 million and net assets of approx $600 million. The New York company is obviously the biggie, which would explain why it's been so difficult to get hold of financials for it, without actually trying to phone them and ask for a copy. Assuming (right off the top of my head) a 10% net profit %tage, the NY company would accumulate approx. $100 million dollars to it's net assets every year. Confirmation that we are talking about a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

Expatbrit

expatbrit,

You are engaging in SWAG - Scientific Wild Assed Guess. My guess is that they will loose money this year or break even. Most of their assets are tied up in physical plant. With high fixed costs and lower revenue their profit margins will drop. Whatever these profit margins were at their peak, which is an unknown, they are likely to be declining.

I'm sure you all remember I posted a list a few days ago, showing they had no money at all!!!!!!

Yakki Da

Kent

I need more BOE letters, KMs and other material. Those who can send it to me - please do! The new section will be interesting!!

Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
http://watchtower.observer.org

Larc:

You are absolutely correct about the SWAG, which is why I made a point of saying that my figure of 10% was off the top of my head. Based on my experience working with various businessews (I run an accounting firm), any business not consistently making an np% of >10% will not be around for much longer. However, this is just my experience and viewpoint.

Interestingly though, the WT may be about to fall foul of a rule of thumb that is widely accepted: the 80/20 rule. That is, that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers or clients. 18% of jw's are in North America, and based on this piece of business wisdom, will generate approx. 80% of the wt's revenue. If the decline in North America and Western Europe persists, the reaction of the wt will be interesting to see, as each new third world convert will become an additional net drain on monetary resources. I expect the screw to be put on NA jw's pretty severely over the next couple of years, with less emphasis on gaining third world recruits. Again, that's entirely SWAG on my part!

Expatbrit

Hi Amazing - check this out!

The watchtower do have a lot of money - if they want to show them. Some times they simply try to say they have NOTHING. Check out this:

I followed the link on the "Support freedom" banner, and checked out "Guidestar". http://www.guidestar.org
A search for "Watchtower", naturally came up with their "charitable" work, and it's really impressive!

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Florida, Inc.
900 RED MILLS RD
WALLKILL,NY 12589

Program / Activities
Information currently not available in database
Financial Info
Assets: $0
Income: $0
This organization files an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

----------------------------

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
25 Columbia Hts
Brooklyn,NY 11201
http://www.watchtower.org
Information in this report was supplied by the nonprofit organization within the last two years.

Who We Are
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is a non-profit religious organization dedicated to teaching members and others outside the organization about God (Jehovah). We strive to maintain high moral standards that correspond to what Jehovah sees are appropriate. We have houses of worship (Kingdom Halls) in 234 lands around the world.

Program / Activities
Religion Related, Spiritual Development N.E.C.

Location(s) Served
All Countries and Areas of the World (234 Lands)
Contact Info
Tel: (718) 625-3600
deca@onebox.com
Contact: Mr. Aaron Chandler, Baptised Jehovah's Witness

Financial Info
Assets: $0
Income: $0
This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.
It makes its audited financial statements available to the public upon request.

Chief Executive: Mr. Milton Henschel
No. of Board Members: 13
No. of Full Time Employees: 0
No. of Part-Time Employees: 0
No. of Volunteers: 0
more about leaders

EIN: 11-1753577
Year Founded: 1879

How to Help
This organization is seeking funds from contributions. These funds will be used for unrestricted operating expenses, special projects and building improvements.

-------------------------------

Charitable Trust Agreement fbo Watchtower Society Louis R And
PO Box 1308
Milwaukee,WI 53201

Program / Activities
Named Trusts/Foundations N.E.C.
Financial Info
Fiscal Year: 1997
Assets: $6,772
Income: $120,397
This organization files an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

------------------------------

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York
318 S Ash
Cortez,CO 81321

Program / Activities
Information currently not available in database
Financial Info
Assets: $0
Income: $0
This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.

-------------------------
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
2236 NW 20TH ST
OKLAHOMA CITY,OK 73107

Program / Activities
Information currently not available in database
Financial Info
Fiscal Year: 1999
Assets: $0
Income: $0
This organization files an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

--------------------------------

I bet the help from these "charitable" societies will be huge!

Yakki Da

Kent

I need more BOE letters, KMs and other material. Those who can send it to me - please do! The new section will be interesting!!

Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
http://watchtower.observer.org

Hello Kent,

excellent post. This kind of informations

should be posted, printed everywhere! All R&F should know

these facts and figures.

I have made a conversion in some currencies, to give an

idea of what 951millions of dollares represent for other

nations. Here they are:

$ 951,000,000.= are equivalent to:

Euros ………………….1,033,917,690.=

GBP…………………… 648,659,982.=

DM……………………. 2,022,168,360.=

FB……………………..41,708,102,000.=

ITL……………………2,001,940,590,000.=

SEK……………………...9,983,122,500.=:

GRD……………………352,307,460,000.=

NOK ………………………8,267,613,600.=

ATS ……………………..14,227,055,100.=

NLG ………………………2,278,453,350.=

FIM ……………………….6,147,397,140.=

FRF……………………….6,782,056,550.=

AUD ………………………1,894,049,640.=

CAD ………………………1,491,738,600.=

ESP…………… 172,029,243,000.=

PTE ……………………207,281,862,000.=

DKK………………………7,696,538,100.=

CHF………………………1,535,199,300.=

NZD………………………2,306,574,420.=

MXN…………………….. 8,984,097,000.=

JPY ……………………111,828,090,000.=

HKD……………………….7,417,134,300.=


(Rates taken on the Exchanges Rt. For the
17 september2001 )

Quite a lot of money even for Western Europe!

To Expatbrit: thanks for giving the link
for the Pennsylvania company.

I do think that all these kind of
information should be put together in a
same post!

Kent: I'm surprised about the question,
the post is only days old!! But thanks
for giving the good answer, again.

Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp

Hello Kent,

should we suggest that the WTS :

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
25 Columbia Hts
Brooklyn,NY 11201
http://www.watchtower.org
Information in this report was supplied by the nonprofit organization within the last two years. "

gives some money for the "N.Y. Firefighters"...for start,

just few millions!

Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp

I would certainly tell the tax authorities, that this company with zero income, "giving away" their lit(t)erature for nearly a billion a year - should donate a 100 million or so. That would give them some support!

Yakki Da

Kent

I need more BOE letters, KMs and other material. Those who can send it to me - please do! The new section will be interesting!!

Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
http://watchtower.observer.org