Thailand’s Anne Jakkapong bets on selling the Miss Universe dream
BANGKOK — Beauty pageants are not unlike sports competitions. Television networks bid millions of dollars for broadcasting rights, and brands sponsor segments and competitors for product and logo visibility. The team or pageant also earns from selling official merchandise and event tickets.
But the core of the business is selling a dream, and no one knows that better than Miss Universe’s new proprietor.
“It’s embedded in the culture. It’s about glory, victory, desire, dreams, success,” Anne Jakkapong Jakrajutatip, CEO of JKN Global Group, told Nikkei Asia. “It’s about the ultimate lifestyle, being the iconic woman of the world.”
Last month, the Thai billionaire reached a lifelong dream of owning the Miss Universe Organization, becoming its first woman and non-American proprietor. The Bangkok-listed media company she founded in 2013 is known for its ownership of CNBC Thailand and the local edition of fashion design competition Project Runway.
With the $20 million purchase of Miss Universe, JKN’s total addressable market is now worldwide. Asia is home to two pageant powerhouses, the Philippines and India, which have won four and three crowns, respectively. Pageants are a cultural fixture too in Latin America and the U.S., where JKN also owns Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.
That reach will be important to JKN’s recovery from nearly two years of dwindling profits. The company ended 2021 with a 44.4% annual drop in profits despite higher revenue of 1.8 billion baht. Debt and advertising costs remained a drag in the first nine months of 2022, with profits down 21% from the previous year.
JKN’s share price jumped 25% the day after it announced the Miss Universe acquisition. Miss Universe will bring nine new revenue streams to JKN, Anne told Nikkei Asia, including broadcasting rights and the franchise fee paid by each country that sends a candidate to Miss Universe. Countries also bid to host the final competition, and once the queen is crowned, the organization earns fees as her talent manager.
Anne Jakkapong pointed to her recent Miss Universe celebration as proof of the demand for beauty pageants. On a Monday afternoon, around 5,000 people flocked to a Bangkok mall for the event, nearly five times the number of allotted tickets. Most fans were Thai, but others flew from overseas to see queens including the Philippines’ Catriona Gray, Spain’s Angela Ponce, and reigning Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu of India.
“That’s why we decided to do merchandise licensing, to satisfy them,” said Anne. Branded health beverages, dietary supplements and apparel will be another new revenue source for Miss Universe. Anne said she had been approached by condominium developers, spas, hotels and restaurants for Miss Universe endorsement deals.
After the acquisition was announced, Anne met with Thailand’s culture and tourism ministers to discuss how the pageant can contribute to the country’s goal of bringing 25 million arrivals in 2023. Next year’s competition will be held in the U.S. city of New Orleans, but Anne plans to host the pageant in Thailand every two or three years.
The reigning queen will also have two home bases, New York and Bangkok. A year of free rent in a luxury apartment is part of Miss Universe’s prize on top of a six-figure salary. Afterward, former queens and contestants use the pageant as a launchpad for lucrative careers in modeling, acting or music.
Some channel their prizes to education, with scholarships up for grabs in some pageants. Others use the pageant to raise political awareness, such as Myanmar’s Han Lay who criticized her country’s military junta at Miss Grand International 2020.
“My personal mission is to raise the voice of women of each country, so those women can bring economic value to their country,” Anne Jakkapong said. The 43-year-old billionaire transitioned as a woman at the age of 39, and has two children.
Under JKN, Miss Universe will accept all candidates who identify as women, whether they be single, married or divorced. The pageant began welcoming transgender contestants 10 years ago. The new owner will keep the Miss Universe management in place, including president Paula Shugart who has led the organization for nearly 25 years.
