In an amazing event, Alliance Entertainment terminated their purchase of Diamond Comics in a process filled with them. The move was revealed in the SEC application, initially reported by ICV2.
The brief document also includes a notice that Thomas Finke, who resigned from the Alliance Board of Directors, contained the following statement:
On April 24, 2025, the company reached Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (“Diamond”) issued a termination notice, terminating the previously executed asset purchase agreement to acquire a large amount of all diamond assets through a court-supervised bankruptcy process. Termination shall take effect immediately.
It is presumed that this means that a joint bid through universal distribution and AD Populum will be declared the winner of the Diamond Bankruptcy lottery.
This marks the conversion of ownership of various diamond comic assets. While both Universal and the League were interested in buying diamonds last year, the league initially won the auction before the diamond went bankrupt on January 14, as announced on March 25. But before the court proved this, Diamond announced that despite its lower level, they approved the joint general/ad population bid. It was revealed on April 7 that the league fired the lawsuit, but then the court appeared to have approved the league’s bid again, and now has raised a total of $85 million.
After this decision, things seem to have been resolved, with an ongoing stream of anal documents suggesting that as diamonds move to new ownership, diamonds are addressing their affairs, and creditors will eventually understand how much they will receive.
Then bam! On April 24, the league withdrew.
Given that Diamonds – a number of larger comic publishers reportedly – prefer universal bidding, maybe it could be considered a happy ending? Indeed, Diamond sent a letter to publishers today indicating that they are still moving towards the business.
Dear publisher,
You may have heard or read Alliance Entertainment decided not to trade with Diamond. While this may be disappointing, make sure the sales process will be conducted with other partners in the short term. These partners have a strong balance sheet and it is important to have an unrivalled presence and experience in our core industries.
What does this mean to you? As we continue this process, we will operate on a habitual basis as we have been focusing on excellent sales and customer service with the same attention.
On behalf of Diamond Books Family, we want to thank you for your continued patience and support. When we are in this situation, your commitment is crucial.
Thanks!
Emily Botica (She/She)
Vice President, Publisher Relations and Marketing
Diamond Book Distributor
What exactly happened here?
A few guesses. Alliance is very interested in Diamond’s toy/game business, and Diamond loses less than the comics business. Unfortunately, the tariff war with China has had a devastating impact on the toy and gaming business. Although publishing has actually survived (for now), the toy business suddenly became very unstable, perhaps investing $85 million in the business, suddenly it looked like a bad deal. So bad that the league might feel like they have invested in all the legal fees in the process.
It is also obvious that the league is Diamond’s unpopular suitor, and Diamond has always liked universally. This can also be considered as a decision.
Hopefully some of these will come out someday – maybe league president Bruce Ogilvie will air the podcast and explain what’s going on.
Meanwhile, in the bankruptcy proceedings of Diamond Comics as we know it, all hell collapses again.
