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Important seemed the fact that the average holdings of those who bought Hearst Consolidated Publications stock were slightly over 40 shares apiece, or $1,000 in principal amount, an exceptionally large figure for stock sold through newspaper offices on the installment plan ($5 down and $2 per month). A natural deduction from this was that one person or few persons must own many times 40 shares to bring the average up. When the stock was offered a promise was made in the offering circular to apply to list the stock on the New York Curb. Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco Exchanges. So far no such applications have been made, leaving the only market for the stock the secretary of the company's office in San Francisco. A commission of $1 per share (4% of the purchase price) is charged for arranging a sale.
Recent circulars of the company have stated that application for listing will be made "after distribution is accomplished," admitted the financing is incomplete. The sales drive continues at high pressure in the Hearst press. A full-page advertisement in Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan for September pictured a happy wife, husband & child, "typical of more than 20,000 investing families who have taken advantage of the Hearst customer-ownership plan." with ten potent reasons why readers should buy. A provision of the deal is that, should dividends fail in any four successive quarter-years, the preferred stockholders could elect a majority of the directorate, which is otherwise controlled by Mr. Hearst, holder of all the common stock. Chance of this development seems remote. Though distribution of the preferred stock has been slow, Hearst Consolidated Publications Inc. has this year (to July 12) earned $2.64 per share for all 2,000,000 shares, or better than three times the 7% dividend requirement for the period.