In 1994 a British writer named Eva Ibbotson published a children's book called The Secret of Platform 13. Its hero is a kind 9-year-old orphan who sleeps in a cupboard. He doesn't know he's famous in a magic world. The rich family raising him spoils its own son and keeps him with the servants. The way home is a secret platform at King's Cross station in London. J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book came out three years later.
James Kennedy revisits the book in this weekend's Journal, in his column on lost treasures in children's books. The setup is daft in the best way. Royal nursemaids lose a magic island's infant prince in 1980s London. The portal home only opens once every nine years, and only for nine days. When it opens again, a rescue team goes through. A wizard past his prime. A plant fairy. A kind one-eyed giant named Hans. And Odge Gribble, a young hag with a mind of her own. Kennedy calls her the real hero.
The prince, Ben, was stolen by the rich and awful Trottles, who had no child of their own. When their son Raymond came along, they shoved Ben off to live among the servants. The rescuers decide the spoiled Raymond must be the prince. Their attempts to lure him home give the book its best jokes. In the best scene, London's whole fairy population stages a spectacle for him. He's unimpressed. “I've seen that on the telly.”
Kennedy notes that Rowling has never said a public word about the overlap. Ibbotson was asked about it. She said, “I think we all borrow from each other as writers.” That's the whole fight, settled in one sentence. Kennedy calls her prose “a daffier Ms. Rowling or a kinder Roald Dahl.” She died in 2010.
Being first isn't being paid
Ibbotson had the platform, the cupboard and the orphan three years early. The blockbusters went to Rowling. Kennedy doesn't call it theft, and neither do we. Ideas just travel this way. The idea is the cheap part. The timing, the execution and the staying power are what get paid.
Our read
This is a Behavioral piece, with an investing point (IN04). Being early to an idea isn't the same as being paid for it. We see it in markets all the time. The company that invented a category often isn't the one that wins it. The first mover does the hard, lonely work. A later one with better timing and reach gets the sales. The same goes for themes. You can be right that AI or gold or power matters, and still own the wrong name, or the right name at the wrong price. So we don't buy a stock because it was first. We ask whether it's getting paid now, in sales and earnings, at a price that makes sense. That's a general principle, not advice for anyone in particular.
The one thing in your plan this touches is any single stock you hold mainly because the company was first to something. One check this week. Pull up that holding and write one line on how it gets paid today. Sales, earnings or a dividend. If the line won't come, bring the statement to the next review and we'll look at it together. And if there's a 9-year-old on your gift list, Ibbotson's book is a good one. The umbrella works best if you found it before the clouds did.