NEVER IN PARIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100510001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100510001-0
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"It'll sel175,000 copies," ventured one.
"Maybe 100,000," said another. The
guessing went as high as 150,000annu-
al copies of the blue-covered tax book.
Yet there had been apprehension
inside Arthur Young, recalls Meyer-
son, 50. "We didn't submit the idea to
a vote of the partners-that would
have been like the Filipino election."
Meyerson and the book's outside edi-
tor, Peter Bernstein, who came to Ar-
thur Young with the idea, envisioned
an authoritative tax guide for individ-
uals. That meant a dozen highly paid
partners and numerous staffers put-
ting in thousands of hours. It cost,
Meyerson estimates, $500,000, a lot
of money to put into something as
risky as a hook.
But the editors were wrong-it sold
about 300,000 the first year, 1985.
This year about 500,000 are in print,
with the presses poised for more as
needed. Only / A /ct.v..e,-, the evergreen
of the field, may sell more. But Arthur
Young concentrates on bookstores,
and so has pushed /11wr (which also
sells by direct mail) out of its top spot
in the prestigious.v'eu,)Otk, liiiic< Best
Seller List.
Now the hook is on the edge of
actual profit, something Meyerson
had not expected for five or six year,
(royalties are evenly split between Ar-
thur Young and Bernstein). But profit
never was really the main motive.
"We did the book to reinforce our
reputation, to get greater visibility in
the marketplace," says Meyerson,
chewing on his ever-present Omega
cigar. "It's worked. At dinner parties,
you no longer have to explain whom
you're with when you're with Arthur
Young."-Richard Greene
It breaks ice at cocktail parties.
IIiler,,aUUnal I It-raIt 1 'I rihUI,ek l.cc 1110mei
Why shouldn't they have Peanuts in Latin America? And escorts?
Never in Paris
Henry Miller once paid his rent by
dutifully helping write its copy.
He probably wouldn't recognize Lee
Huebner's sheet, but the twer,,an ?oil
/lrrcilr/ 1iihime is still published in
parts, and it is lately enjoying healthy
growth in profits and circulation.
Publisher Huebner, a Sheboygan,
Wis.-horn former adviser in the Nixon
White House who sees the /,-ih as a
global newspaper, Is adding an eighth
publishing point- in Miami
No, Huebner says, this month's
move signals no huge invasion of the
U.S. It will cut shipping costs and
speed distribution for Latin American
circulation (now 562 and aiming for
10,000). U.S. circulation could triple
from 2,000, but the l)ih will respect
the turf of its owners: the Washington
Post Co., the New York Times Co.
and Whitney Communications.
For the fl-ih, which now fetches the
equivalent of about $1 a copy around
the world, Huebner's relentless clon-
ing of the paper in new markets (edi-
tions are virtually identical world-
wide) has meant high profits. Once a
moneyloser, its 168,000 circulation is
up 29% since 1980 despite competi-
tion from the Wall .' n'cr /?in-mil and
the l i,uiirc,a / lime.. Last year's pretax
profit, about $5 million, is double
1984's. Because selling more papers
brings in far more new ad revenues
than new costs, new lid) clones may
turn up in Rome and Tokyo, there to
supply the needs of international
types for well-packaged (though pre-
dictable) limo,//'o4 coverage, /'eanm ,
a solid U.S. sports page and the daily
worldwide list of "escorts" that con-
trihutes a hefty share of classified rev-
enues Wait, Isn't that something for
Henry Miller? Well, in?i. As a respect-
able French corporation, the /i-ih care-
fully honors a French law often ft-
nessed by other publications: Parisian
hookers are out.-Hesh Kestin
Four-fifths to go
W hat does it mean that Standard &
Door's, the debt-rating agency, re-
ported that last year it had downgrad-
ed 144%% more corporate debt than it
upgraded-a record $110 billion
worth-despite a growing economy.'
The question gives Lco O'Neill, the
thin 45-year-old who oversees S&P's
225 debt analysts, a lot to think about.
One thing is sure, S&P's wasn't
shooting from the hip. In its research
S&P's gets information unavailable to
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100510001-0