founder karl fowler country of origin guernsey headquarters location united arab emirates distribution opus media group plc key people karl fowler paul murphy publication types books nonfiction topics sports teams ; celebrities ; arts ; culture fiction genres definitive publications official website https www.thisisopus.com kraken opus is a publishing company operating from guernsey in the channel islands ; london united kingdom ; and the united arab emirates . the company produces premium outsized editions on subjects including sports teams 1 and celebrities 2 and on broader topics including the muslim hajj . 3 the company describes its publications which are produced in limited editions retailing for up to 1m as works of art . 2 contents 1 company history 2 publications 3 bibliography 4 references 5 external links company history edit the company is owned by karl fowler a former goldman sachs investment banker . 4 he founded kraken opus following a period managing his own financial services company for which he built up a client list including a number of sports stars . the interests of these clients inspired him to consider a high end publication for sports fans ; 5 he invested 5 million of his own money and of capital put up by friends and acquaintances to found kraken opus . 2 its first title was the manchester united opus published in 2006 the book weighed 97 pounds 44 kg and each edition in its 10 000 run was priced between 3000 and 4500 . 2 5 in december 2008 the company opened a proprietary shop in covent garden . 6 the company entered voluntary administration in june 2009 when a us backer announced that a tranche of 6m in promised funding would not be forthcoming . 7 days later following an offer to existing shareholders fowler and partner paul murphy undertook a management buyout of the company 8 announcing that a new arab funder had been found at that the company s headquarters would be moved from london to the united arab emirates . 7 at the time the company faced criticism over the delayed publication of the 3000 per copy celtic opus which was postponed from july 2009 after pre orders and deposits had been received . 9 the print run was also reduced but the firm insisted that publication would still go ahead . 10 publications edit several of the company s publications have attracted press notice including the burj dubai opus a 15 foot 4.6 m tall edition of which was commissioned to stand in the lobby of the building on its opening . 11 a copy of the manchester united opus auctioned for 1.5 m to a middle eastern consortium with proceeds given to the dubai cares charity was the most expensive sports book ever sold . 2 3 wine opus had a print run of only one hundred copies each priced at au 1.2 m each ; 12 while one hundred copies of the forthcoming diego maradona opus are due to ship with samples of maradona s blood and hair . 7 the prince opus was sold in tandem with a branded iphone model for us 2 100 . 13 kraken opus in partnership with ticket vendor ticketmaster also produced the 109 michael jackson opus the only book licensed by the jackson estate in the immediate aftermath of his death . 14 bibliography edit bradley wiggins formula 1 arsenal prince michael jackson burj khalifa references edit bokke join iconic book stable . independent online south africa . 5 august 2009 . a b c d e waller martin 5 february 2009 . this isn t all about money says publisher whose books command 1m price tags . the times . london . retrieved 7 may 2010 . a b ghazal rym 8 january 2009 . haj celebrated on film and in print . the national uae . watson jeremy 23 november 2008 . weighing in at 81lbs celtic tome is a heavy read . scotsman . a b goodman leah macgrath 17 september 2007 . showing some spine . portfolio . pagano margareta 21 december 2008 . what recession new bookshop tells a different story . the independent . a b c new chapter for cash strapped kraken opus . the australian . 19 june 2009 . fresco adam 18 june 2009 . the 1 million book is saved as management buys out kraken opus . the times . london . tait gordon 18 june 2009 . firm producing celtic opus goes bust . scottish sun . williams martin 18 june 2009 . rescued publisher promises 3000 pounds celtic book will go ahead . the herald scotland . lieberman michael 20 october 2008 . only in dubai the burj dubai opus . seattle post intelligencer . faulkner jane 3 august 2009 . cellar door . the age . chen brian x 13 april 2009 . limited edition prince ipod is purple lame . masson gordon 14 august 2009 . ticketmaster enters the book business with jackson opus . music week . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kraken opus & oldid 740088198 categories book publishing companies of the united kingdompublishing companies established in 2005hidden categories official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 19 september 2016 at 00 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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