 The poor sales of the war years brought the "Britannica" to the brink of bankruptcy.The CEO of Sears Roebuck, philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, was devoted to the mission of the "Britannica" and bought its rights on 24 February 1920 from his friend Horace Everett Hooper for $1.25 million.In 1922, a 3-volume supplement to the eleventh edition was released that summarized the developments just before, during and after World War I; these three volumes, taken together with the eleventh edition of 1910, became known as the twelfth edition.