Hello Kitty is famously the height of just five apples. But these days, the more striking statistic is that she¡¯s worth more than ?1 trillion ¡ª or $6.5 billion.
Stock in Japan¡¯s Sanrio hit that milestone for the first time recently, just weeks before the company¡¯s feline star turned 50. Kitty White was born on Nov. 1, 1974, when she first appeared on a vinyl coin purse that quickly helped her became a national sensation in Japan.
Half a century later, she¡¯s not just big business in Sanrio¡¯s home country: Hello Kitty is the second highest-grossing media franchise in the world, according to TitleMax, earning more than the likes of ¡°Harry Potter¡± or ¡°Star Wars.¡±
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