When I was a kid you either had The Encyclopedia Britannica or World Book.
The rich kids had Britannica. The upward strivers had World Book.
We had World Book.
Britannica was a status symbol, but it was more than that. It was the source of all knowledge and a place to copy homework papers from.
Yesterday, Britannica announced that they were going out of business – or at least the print version was.
After 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica has sold its last edition – and at $1500 for each edition, it’s no wonder.
Britannica was yet another victim of the Internet – in this case, Wikipedia, which is free. It’s also better, as it is updated in real time, as opposed to every few years.
Britannica has about 100,000 articles; Wikipedia has 3.7 million. Â Wikipedia has a theoretical valuation of $5 Billion. Â Britannica is.. well, nowhere near that.
The irony is that The Encyclopedia Britannica COULD have become Wikipedia. They were there, in the business of providing instant in-depth information on lots of topics before Jimmy Wales even thought of Wikipedia. Britannica OWNED the space. Â They just never did anything.
It’s not like they didn’t know.
Here’s an entry on The Internet from the 1977 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica:
Two paragraphs.
Two paragraphs buried in thousands and thousands of pages of content.
Yet they would prove to be the death knell of the entire 244 year old industry.
Ironic, no?
Now, why did a big (and clearly very smart) company like Encyclopedia Britannica (you can’t get much smarter than that) miss the boat that led to their demise?
I look out my window and I see another Encyclopedia Britannica
This is the NBC Building in Rockefeller Center
30 Rock
It’s a massive pile of bricks
Massive!
And it isn’t wrapped in authentic Moroccan Leather, but it’s another Encyclopedia Britannica waiting to happen.
It’s only a matter of time.
