Raphael Stevens

CNBC Travel

Hong Kong is the top destination in Asia for foodies this year, according to new rankings released by the 50 Best organization.
The city is home to 16 of the region’s “best” 100 restaurants, as shown in the list, released in two parts in March.

Thailand and Japan tied for second place, each with 13 restaurants on the list. The small city-state of Singapore punched above its weight with 12 establishments named among Asia’s best.
William Drew, director of content for William Reed Business Media, which organizes the awards, told CNBC that Hong Kong had an “unusual experience” this year since it was largely closed to foreign visitors.
“However, restrictions aside, many restaurants have been very busy on a local level,” Drew said.
“It’s likely that local voters dined in a wider variety of restaurants in the city, spreading the vote amongst a wider range of establishments,” he added.

The top 50 restaurants in Asia

This year commemorates the 10th anniversary of the “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” list. This year’s ranking includes restaurants from 10 places, with 16 new entrants.

Looking only at the top 50 spots, Japan comes out on top for the second year in a row. It took the coveted top spot — with Tokyo’s Den named “The Best Restaurant in Asia 2022” — and is home to 1 in 5 of every restaurant on the list.

Sorn’s rice salad is a colorful mix of rice and herbs. The Bangkok restaurant ranked No. 2 on “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” list this year.
Source: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

Hong Kong’s Chairman, which ranked No. 1 last year, dropped four spots to No. 5. Singapore’s Odette, which has been named Asia’s best restaurant twice, also lost ground, sliding six spots from No. 2 to No. 8.
Rising nine places to No. 2, Thailand’s Sorn also clinched the title of “Best Restaurant in Thailand” for the first time. Local chef Thitid ‘Ton’ Tassanakajohn can now count two of his restaurants in the top 10 — Le Du (No.4) and Nusara (No.10).

Den — Asia’s ‘best restaurant’

Japan’s Den — No. 3 on last year’s list — is a two-Michelin-starred restaurant that entered the list in 2016. In seven years, it moved from 37th place to No. 1.
Opened in 2007, chef and owner Zaiyu Hasegawa and his team take a creative approach to kaiseki —  a traditional multi-course Japanese meal characterized by small, intricate dishes — with twists on traditional dishes.

Interior of Den. The two-Michelin-starred restaurant entered the list at No. 37 in 2016, rising to No. 1 this year.
Source: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

Take, for example, the “Dentucky Fried Chicken.” It’s served in a box that resembles KFC’s packaging, but instead of Colonel Sanders, it shows Hasegawa holding two drum sticks. The chicken is stuffed with rice.
Den is no stranger to success, as it’s been named the “Best Restaurant in Japan” for five consecutive years. It placed No. 11 on “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list in 2021.

Asia’s top 50 restaurants

1. Den (Tokyo, Japan)2. Sorn (Bangkok, Thailand)3. Florilege (Tokyo, Japan)4. Le Du (Bangkok, Thailand)5. The Chairman (Hong Kong)6. La Cime (Osaka, Japan)7. Suhring (Bangkok, Thailand)8. Odette (Singapore)9. Neighborhood (Hong Kong)10. Nusara (Bangkok, Thailand)11. Sazenka (Tokyo, Japan)12. Fu He Hui (Shanghai, China)13. Ode (Tokyo, Japan) — Highest Climber Award (from No. 27 last year)14. Villa Aida (Wakayama, Japan) — Highest New Entry Award15. Narisawa (Tokyo, Japan)16. Mingles (Seoul, South Korea)17. Sezanne (Tokyo, Japan)18. Joo Ok (Seoul, South Korea)19. Ensue (Shenzhen, China)20. Meta (Singapore)21. Masque (Mumbai, India)22. Indian Accent (New Delhi, India)23. Les Amis (Singapore)24. Caprice (Hong Kong)25. Blue by Alain Ducasse (Bangkok, Thailand)

A dish from Toyko’s Ode, ranked No. 13 on “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” 2022 list.
Source: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

26. 7th Door (Seoul, South Korea)27. Mosu (Seoul, South Korea)28. Da Vittorio (Shanghai, China)29. Sushi Masato (Bangkok, Thailand)30. Onjium (Seoul, South Korea)31. Samrub Samrub Thai (Bangkok, Thailand)32. Mono (Hong Kong)33. Gaa (Bangkok, Thailand)34. Wing (Hong Kong)35. Ministry of Crab (Colombo, Sri Lanka)36. La Maison de la Nature Goh (Fukuoka, Japan)37. Zen (Singapore)38. Logy (Taipei, Taiwan)39. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet (Shanghai, China)40. Labyrinth (Singapore)41. Burnt Ends (Singapore)42. Ete (Tokyo, Japan)43. Cenci (Kyoto, Japan)44. Cloudstreet (Singapore)45. JL Studio (Taichung, Taiwan)46. Raan Jay Fai (Bangkok, Thailand)47. Wing Lei Palace (Macao)48. 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana (Hong Kong)49. Megu (New Delhi, India)50. Dewakan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Asia’s best restaurants: 51-100

This is the second year the extended list has been released.
Eleven restaurants that ranked among Asia’s best 50 restaurants last year fell into the 51-100 ranking this year. Most notably, L’Effervescence fell 52 spots from No. 19 to No. 71. Vea also dropped 49 places from No. 14 to No. 63.

The interior view of Eat and Cook in Malaysia, which won the “American Express One To Watch” award this year.
Source: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

Nonetheless, Hong Kong proved to be a hot spot this year, going from only one restaurant on the list in 2021 to 10 this year.
China’s Jin Sha also saw the greatest jump, moving up 38 spots from No. 89 to No. 51, edging close to the best 50 list. Nadodi was close behind, rising 37 ranks from No. 99 to No. 62.
Here’s the extended list:
51. Jin Sha (Hangzhou, China)52. Adachi Sushi (Taipei, Taiwan)53. Seventh Son (Hong Kong)54. Mume (Taipei, Taiwan)55. Jaan by Kirk Westaway (Singapore)56. Euphoria (Singapore)57. Shoun RyuGin (Taipei, Taiwan)58. Esora (Singapore)59. Karavalli (Bangalore, India)60. Ta Vie (Hong Kong)61. Pru (Phuket, Thailand)62. Nadodi (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)63. Vea (Hong Kong)64. Godenya (Hong Kong)65. Anan Saigon (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam)66. Bukhara (New Delhi, India)67. Refer (Beijing, China)68. Xin Rong Ji (Beijing, China)69. TIE — Comorin, Gurugram (India)69. TIE — Gallery by Chele (Manila, Philippines)71. L’Effervescence (Tokyo, Japan)72. Liberte (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)73. Dum Pukht (New Delhi, India)74. Antonio’s (Tagaytay, Philippines)75. Lolla (Singapore)76. Obscura (Shanghai, China)77. Xin Rong Ji (Hong Kong)78. Sushi Saito (Tokyo, Japan)79. Avartana (Chennai, India)80. Americano (Mumbai, India)81. Eat and Cook (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)82. Batard (Hong Kong)83. Amber (Hong Kong)84. Golden Flower (Macao)85. The Table (Mumbai, India)86. Baan Tepa (Bangkok, Thailand)87. Lerdtip Wanghin (Bangkok, Thailand)88. L’Envol (Hong Kong)89. Jade Dragon (Macao)90. Topaz (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)91. Quince (Bangkok, Thailand)92. Thevar (Singapore)93. Cilantro (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)94. Toyo Eatery (Manila, Philippines)95. Maison Lameloise (Shanghai, China)96. Chaat (Hong Kong)97. The Eight (Macao)98. Sushi Hare (Hong Kong)99. Le Cote LM (Taichung, Taiwan)100. 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana (Shanghai, China)

Singapore restaurants take a hit

About half of the Singapore restaurants on both lists saw a fall in rankings this year.
Meta — short for metamorphosis — was the only Singapore restaurant that saw a rise in rankings, climbing an impressive 40 spots to No. 20. The one-Michelin-starred restaurant won the “One to Watch” award last year.
Chef Sun Kim recommends trying his rendition of Korean barbecue. “It’s a dish that I hold close to me as it brings me a sense of nostalgia,” he told CNBC.

Sun Kim, the chef at Meta in Singapore, named No. 20 on “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” list.
Source: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

In contrast, Jaan by Kirk Westaway saw a drop in rankings for the third consecutive year, going from No. 21, to No. 42, and finally No. 55 this year. Euphoria also fell 15 places to 56th place.
Burnt Ends, an Australian barbecue restaurant, dropped 27 places from No. 14 to No. 41.
Lolla is Singapore’s highest ranking new entry this year at No. 75.
A representative of the Mediterranean restaurant told CNBC the person behind its success is head chef Johanne Siy, who joined less than two years ago. Siy was named the female “Chef of the Year” at last year’s World Gourmet Awards.

How the list is made

This is how voting works, according to the 50 Best organization.
Restaurants are chosen by more than 300 industry leaders, referred to as “the academy.” They are food writers, critics, chefs and restaurateurs from across the region. The academy regularly changes and has a 50-50 gender balance, and each voter must have visited a restaurant it votes for at least once in the last 18 months.

The “Fallen Fruit” dish from Lolla, a Singapore restaurant ranked No. 75 on Asia’s top 100 list.
Source: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

In 2022, voting rules were amended because of restrictions on international travel. Each member nominates eight restaurants, including up to six from their home country but with no obligation to vote for restaurants outside their home country.
After two years of livestreamed events, this year’s awards presentation was hosted live in three cities: Bangkok, Macao, and Tokyo. Events were also streamed on Facebook and YouTube.
The 50 Best organization publishes several lists to highlight excellence in the food industry, including “The World’s 50 Best Bars” and regional listings such as “Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants.” More

Stock futures rose early Thursday as investors assessed a new quarter of trading and a troublesome bond market recession indicator.
Investors were also awaiting the official jobs report for March, which the Labor Department will release at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.

Dow futures gained 90 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures added 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3% to kick off the first trading session of the second quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped on Thursday to close out the first negative quarter for stocks in two years, with losses accelerating in the final hour of trading. The Dow dropped 550.46 points, or 1.56%, to 34,678.35. The S&P 500 slid 1.57% to 4,530.41, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.54% to 14,220.52.
All three major averages posted their worst quarter since March 2020. The Dow and S&P 500 declined 4.6% and 4.9% respectively during the period, and the Nasdaq dropped more than 9%. Stocks did stage a late-quarter comeback in March however after sharp declines from rising interest rates and inflation marked the first part of the year.
Stocks for now shook off a recession signal from the bond market that was triggered after the closing bell Thursday. The 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields inverted for the first time since 2019. For some investors, it’s a signal that the economy is headed for a possible recession, though the inverted yield curve does not predict exactly when it will happen and history shows it could be more than a year away or longer.

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“I think everybody needs to acknowledge the fact that we are obviously going to be moving into a slower economic environment,” Shannon Saccocia, chief investment officer at Boston Private Wealth, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”

“You need to get earnings growth from somewhere, and if it’s not going to be a secular tailwind, like fiscal spend and monetary policy looseness, then you have to look for growth elsewhere. I think we’re going to see some real nuance in trading over the course of the next three months or so as people look for that growth against this more challenging economic backdrop.”
A strong jobs report Friday could give the Fed more confidence to keep its aggressive rate-hiking plan in place this year to stifle inflation without fear of slowing the economy too much. Economists expect that about 490,000 jobs were added in March, according to the consensus estimate from Dow Jones, following a 678,000 payrolls addition in February. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.7% from 3.8%, according to Dow Jones.
GameStop rallied more than 10% in extended trading after the video game retailer and meme stock announced its intentions for a stock split.
Energy prices declined on Thursday after the White House said it will release an unprecedented amount of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Up to 1 million barrels of oil per day will be released for the next six months.
Other key indicators to watch out for include the ISM manufacturing index and the construction spending report, both of which will be released at 10 a.m. ET on Friday.

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President Joe Biden will invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage domestic production of minerals required to make batteries for electric vehicles and long-term energy storage.
Biden’s order could help companies receive government funding for feasibility studies on projects that extract materials, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese.
The White House also announced a new release of oil from its strategic reserves to help cut gas prices and fight inflation across the U.S.

U.S. President Joe Biden announces the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as part of administration efforts to lower gasoline prices, during remarks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 31, 2022.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Joe Biden will invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage domestic production of minerals required to make batteries for electric vehicles and long-term energy storage. It will also help the U.S. minimize dependence on foreign supply chains.
The president’s order could help companies receive government funding for feasibility studies on projects that extract materials, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese, for EV production.

The Defense Production Act, established by President Harry Truman during the Cold War, allows the president to use emergency authority to prioritize the development of specific materials for national production.

“The President will issue a directive, authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act to secure American production of critical materials to bolster our clean energy economy by reducing our reliance on China and other countries for the minerals and materials that will power our clean energy future,” the White House said in a statement on Thursday.
The Department of Defense will impose the authority using “strong environmental, labor, community, and tribal consultation standards,” the White House said. The administration also said it’s reviewing further uses of the law to “secure safer, cleaner, and more resilient energy for America.”
The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, representing about one-third of emissions every year. The transition away from gas vehicles to EVs is considered critical to combating human-caused climate change.

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Demand for lithium has also boomed as more auto companies race to develop EVs. Growth in the number and size of batteries for EVs could comprise more than 90% of lithium demand by 2030, according to the firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. And about 24% of new vehicles sold globally will likely be fully electric by 2030, according to forecasts from consulting firm AlixPartners.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the specifics of the president’s announcement, but the Biden administration should be commended for their efforts to secure the production of critical minerals like lithium here at home,” Lithium Americas, a resource company focused on lithium development, told CNBC.
The administration in February unveiled a plan to allocate $5 billion to states to fund  EV chargers over five years as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package. The U.S. is the world’s third-largest market for EVs, behind China and Europe.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz said in a statement that the organization “appreciates President Biden taking steps to invest in clean energy and help further lead the world in the transition.”
“However, it’s essential that this be done properly,” Cruz added. “We must ensure that labor and environmental standards are not sidestepped, nor are the crucial consultations with Tribal nations and communities who would be directly affected.”
The White House on Thursday also announced a new release of oil from its strategic reserves to help cut gas prices and fight inflation across the U.S. The announcement comes as the administration seeks to combat a hike in energy prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 
— CNBC’s Cat Clifford and Pippa Stevens contributed reporting.

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Will Packer, who produced the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony, said the Los Angeles Police Department was ready to arrest Will Smith until Chris Rock declined to press charges.
Packer’s full interview with “Good Morning America” is set to air on Friday morning.

Will Smith accepts the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for “King Richard” onstage during the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 27, 2022.
Robyn Beck | Afp | Getty Images

Will Packer, who produced the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony, has spoken out about Sunday’s incident in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage.
In a preview clip of ABC’s Good Morning America interview with Packer, which is set to air in its entirety on Friday, the producer said the Los Angeles Police Department was ready to arrest the Oscar-winning actor until Rock declined to press charges.

“They were saying, you know, this is battery was the word they use in that moment,” Packer said in the clip. “They said we will go get him; we are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges. We can arrest him. They were laying out the options, and as they were talking, Chris was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, ‘No, I’m fine.’ He was like, ‘No, no, no.'”
Packer told “GMA” he did not speak with Smith during the night of the Oscars.
On Wednesday, the organization behind the Oscars said its board of governors have initiated a disciplinary proceeding against Smith for violating the group’s standards of conduct. During the board’s next meeting on April 18, it will decide what action it will take, if any, including suspension or expulsion.
According to the Academy, Smith was asked to leave the ceremony, but refused. However, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Smith was not formally asked to leave, citing several sources.
Smith apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees during his acceptance speech on Sunday and publicly apologized to Rock via social media on Monday.

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Posts from an Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account singled out Western companies, demanding that they immediately cease operating in Russia.
Some of the targeted companies said they had already publicly announced such decisions.
Other companies have since withdrawn business activity from Russia, but many forces — such as moral obligations, mitigation of reputational damage, the cost of sanction compliance and franchise agreements — are at play.

In addition to Russian entities, Anonymous says it’s now targeting some Western companies.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

The “hacktivist” collective known as Anonymous said it has a new target in its “cyber war” against Russia — Western businesses that are still doing business there.
A post on March 21 from a Twitter account named @YourAnonTV stated: “We call on all companies that continue to operate in Russia by paying taxes to the budget of the Kremlin’s criminal regime: Pull out of Russia!”

The tweet, which has been liked more than 23,000 times, gave companies 48 hours to comply.

The threat, which was later echoed on other Anonymous-affiliated Twitter accounts, included a photo with the logos of some 40 companies, including household names such as Burger King, Subway and General Mills.
The account later tagged more companies to the post, ostensibly putting them on notice that they, too, could soon be targeted. 

Incorrectly targeted?

CNBC contacted the companies mentioned in this story for comment. Most responses mirrored companies’ published press releases, which are linked throughout this story, that came after the posts.
Tire firm Bridgestone and Dunkin’ said by the time they were targeted by Anonymous, they had already publicly announced that they were pulling business from Russia.

Both companies also replied directly to Anonymous on Twitter. Bridgestone’s reply linked to a press release, and Dunkin’ linked to media coverage of its decision, both which predated Anonymous’ post.  
Twitter users also pointed out that other companies, such as Citrix, had already announced similar measures. A blog posted on Citrix’s website states: “Unfortunately, we see many incorrect reports in social and traditional media concerning Citrix operations in Russia.”

Source: Timothy Minaker

Three targeted oil field service companies — Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger — had also already issued announcements about their Russian business operations. The statements followed a Washington Post article that implored readers to stop investing in companies deemed to be “funding Putin’s war.”

Intentional or ‘fog of war?’

Cyberattacks during the “fog of war” are dangerous, said Marianne Bailey, a cybersecurity partner at the consulting firm Guidehouse and former cybersecurity executive with the U.S. National Security Agency.
“A cyber strike back … could be directed to the wrong place,” she said.
However, it’s also possible Anonymous wasn’t impressed by some of these company’s pledges. Some companies — including Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger — did not score well on a business list compiled by the Yale School of Management. The list categorizes some 500 companies according to whether companies halted or continued operations in Russia, giving them school-style letter grades.
Notably, Bridgestone’s decision received an “A” and Dunkin’ a “B” on Yale’s list.

A second batch of targeted companies

Many companies that received “Fs” on Yale’s list appeared on a second Anonymous Twitter post published March 24. This post targeted a new — and seemingly updated — list of companies, which included Emirates airline, the French gardening retailer Leroy Merlin and the essential oil company Young Living.
Several companies caught in Anonymous’ crosshairs soon announced they were cutting ties with Russia, including the Canadian oilfield service company Calfrac Well Services and the sanitary product maker Geberit Group — the latter including hashtags for Anonymous and Yale in its Twitter announcement.  
The French sporting goods company Decathlon this week announced it too was shutting stores in Russia. But Anonymous had already claimed credit for shuttering its Russian website, along with sites for Leroy Merlin and the French supermarket company Auchan.
Jeremiah Fowler, co-founder of the cybersecurity company Security Discovery, said his research determined that Anonymous also successfully hacked a database belonging to Leroy Merlin.
“I’m absolutely sure [Anonymous] found it,” he said, saying that the collective left messages and references inside the data.
Anonymous also claimed last week that it hacked a database of another targeted company, the Swiss food and beverage corporation Nestle. However, Nestle told CNBC that these claims had “no foundation.” The design and tech website Gizmodo reported that Nestle said it accidentally leaked its own information in February.
Nestle has since announced it is reducing its operations in Russia, but the measures were rejected as insufficient by at least one online Anonymous account.

Other forces at play

Whether threats by Anonymous influenced any corporate decisions to cease operations in Russia is unclear.
Indeed, other forces were also at play, including online calls to boycott some of the targeted corporations in recent weeks.

Activists hold a protest against Koch Industries on June 5, 2014, in New York City. The American conglomerate was one of few companies targeted by both posts by the Twitter account @YourAnonTV. The company also received an “F” on Yale’s list for failing to withdraw its business operations from Russia.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

After being targeted by Anonymous, the French car manufacturer Renault announced it was suspending activities in a Moscow manufacturing plant. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly singled out Renault, as well as Nestle, during televised addresses to European governments and citizens.
A company spokesperson for Renault told CNBC its decision had nothing to do with Anonymous.
Other companies have made moral cases for continuing to operate in Russia. Auchan, in a press release issued this week, said Russians have “no personal responsibility in the outbreak of this war. Abandoning our employees, their families and our customers is not the choice we have made.”

Another complication: Franchises

Unlike McDonalds — which owns some 84% of its outlets in Russia — companies such as Burger King, Subway and Papa John’s often operate via franchise agreements there. Burger King said it demanded the main operator of its franchises suspend restaurant operations in Russia, but that “they have refused.”
Alexander Sayganov | SOPA | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Force majeure clauses — which allow parties to terminate a contract for circumstances such as natural disasters or acts of terrorism — don’t apply here, said Antel. Neither do clauses covering sanctions, which when present, typically apply only if parties to the contract are sanctioned, not the country where they are located, he said.  
Antel said franchisors likely have no legal right to shut down franchises in Russia. But he said he expects franchisors will do so anyway for a variety of reasons: moral decisions, to mitigate reputational damage and to avoid the cost of complying with sanctions, especially since Russia “is not a big percentage of sales” for most of these companies.
“Concerns over hackers and data protection … could be a good reason” too, he said.
He suspects franchisors will negotiate agreements to “share the pain,” either by agreeing to temporarily stop operations, or through settlement fees to terminate the relationship, he said.
He said he’s negotiated one contract — out of hundreds — where a hotel owner in Russia wanted the contractual right to walk away if an international incident made it detrimental to his broader business interests.
“God, we had to fight for it,” said Antel.  
However, he said he now expects contractual exit options to be much more common in the future.

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Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter campaign has topped $41.7 million from more than 181,000 backers and is the most-funded Kickstarter in the crowdfunding site’s history.
Those that backed the campaign will get access to four new novels as either digital e-books, audio books or physical copies in 2023.
People who spent over a certain threshold will also receive eight monthly subscription boxes of items related to Sanderson’s work.

Portrait of American fantasy author Brandon Sanderson taken on June 3, 2011.
Sfx Magazine | Future | Getty Images

Brandon Sanderson asked Kickstarter fans for $1 million to self-publish four novels he wrote during the pandemic. Thirty days later, his campaign has topped $41.7 million from more than 185,000 backers and is the most-funded Kickstarter in the crowdfunding site’s history.
Sanderson’s campaign surpassed the previous record holder in just three days, topping the $20.3 million in funds that smartwatch company Pebble Technology generated in 2015.

With the project successfully funded, Kickstarter will take a 5% fee from the funds collected, or more than $2 million.
A well-established figure in the sci-fi and fantasy novel space, Sanderson has published more than 50 books since 2005. He is best known, however, for creating the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his novels are set.
This is the second time Sanderson has turned to Kickstarter to publish his work. In 2020, he generated $6.7 million in funds from nearly 30,000 backers to produce a leather-bound 10th anniversary edition of his novel “The Way of Kings.”
The campaign acts as a preordering platform, allowing Sanderson to get a better gauge on how many people are interested in purchasing his work so that he can have the proper amount printed.
Those that backed the campaign will get access to these new titles as digital e-books, audio books or physical copies based on their donation level starting January 2023. People who spent over a certain threshold will also receive eight monthly subscription boxes of items related to Sanderson’s work over the course of next year.
“We are a simple bookstore,” he wrote in his campaign. “We can easily sell a book or a piece of swag that is already in stock or will be in stock soon. But planning out an entire ‘Year of Sanderson’ takes setup and tracking we are not capable of at Dragonsteel Books.”

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