Interesting.
I'd thought Tolkien was sharper on the business issues than that.
Crazy world.
Tolkien probably did not have great business acumen, Quix. I think it may not have been important to him. For instance, when The Hobbit was a success as a children's book, his publisher requested a sequel. Tolkien came up with the sequel all right, but 16 years later, after WWII, and as an adult's book!
At some point, in the 50's I think, or early 60's, he sold the movie rights for a couple hundred grand (if memory serves), which, as a college professor of philology, he probably regarded as a handsome sum. Plus, I'm sure he had no idea that so many millions would eventually be made from either his books or the movies.
He did express a wish that the movie not be made by Disney.