Diamond Distributors files for "chapter 11" bankruptcy

January 2025 | Last Update Feb 20, 2025

Bad News in Comic Book Distribution

More about Diamond's situation – Comicsbeat – Feb 19, 2025

Diamond Comic Distributors moving to bankruptcy auction

Story at MSN Baltimore Sun

Besides Diamond Comic Distributors, which supplies stores with Marvel Comics and Star Wars statues, divisions up for sale include Diamond United Kingdom, Diamond Select Toys, Collectible Grading Authority and Alliance Game Distributors...."

Bidding deadline from outside businesses looking to buy Diamond (or parts of Diamond) is set for March 19 with a March 24 auction happening in New York. After that is a court hearing on March 27 with expectation to close-out the legal matters by April 10.

Blood Moon Comics shuts down, blames Diamond bankruptcy – Bleeding Cool

All remaining inventory is being transferred to Sunbury Press to sell in their online store or otherwise disposed of.

Hope there's not going to be more companies joining this list of Diamond Distributors collateral damage.

Has the Diamond bankruptcy changed the comic book industry forever?

Story at Publishers Weekly – Feb 12, 2025

Many publishers had already seen the writing on the wall by the time Diamond began having shipping problems late in 2024, following the closure of its Plattsburgh, N.Y., warehouse..."

The article describes the anecdotal situations of smaller publishers who are owed money and that has put some of them into precarious financial positions. For others it has axed expansion and licensing plans for 2025. Overall, the biggest issue is related by a comic book store owner simply stating the obvious: without Diamond's organized catalogue and ordering system, there simply isn't enough time in the day to go over the offers from hundreds of smaller publishers and ordering from them individually, which means without Diamond surviving in some fashion (and there are efforts by other businesses to buy up Diamond's business), a lot of small comic book publishing operations will be shoved into limbo if not outright ceasing of operations.

Diamond’s downfall is particularly shocking given its near monopoly of the direct market for more than 20 years..."

Who might buy Diamond Distributors? – Bleedingcool - Feb 4, 2025

The article lists out the likely contenders to take over Diamond's operations (and its remaining marketshare): Canadian distributor Universal Distribution; Lunar Distribution "...they are owed a lot of money"; Penguin Random House "Diamond owes them more than anyone else, nine million dollars"; UCS Distribution/Midtown Comics; Simon & Schuster; The Steve Geppi and family 'Geppi has money though Diamond does not.'

Diamond Distributors files for "chapter 11" bankruptcy – Finance Yahoo

Chapter 11 is used by businesses to restructure their debts and continue operations.

At one time, Diamond owned almost the entire distribution business for the comic book industry and the peripheral stuff that goes with it (books, cards, toys, etc). Twenty years ago they were virtually the only game in operation for anyone trying to do something beyond small press comics or mail order, but by the time the pandemic of 2020 came along, the old-fashioned way of doing things, a complaint long thrown at Diamond by people in the industry frustrated by their outmoded computer systems, was catching up with Diamond fast, and they suddenly lost their distribution deals for Marvel and DC.

In much older times, the distribution business for any kind of print was a tough field and competing distribution businesses would literally use violence to attack and disrupt competitors in order to expand their own market, this being at a time well before the internet when comics sold million-upon-millions of copies and the magazine trade in general was lucrative and constantly changing as many titles came out on a weekly basis to meet the heavy demand for timely entertainment and news.

As that kind of new stand distribution withered (as did reading habits) from the onslought of television, Diamond came along and pulled all the pieces together for comic book shops who were inheriting the print runs on new DC and Marvel comics as the traditional new stands stopped carrying Batman, Spider-Man, etc. "Direct sales" was a funny little mom-and-pop business in the 70s, but in the 1980s it put on muscle and expanded all around the country, and from the 90s until now it was Diamond that kept it organized, though other smaller distribution outfits came along trying to outperform against Diamond.

But the complaints about Diamond have kept mounting, and now the financial situation is showing teeth.

Would you like to own a large comics distribution business? Here's your chance – The Baltimore Banner

Diamond Comic Distributors’ bankruptcy filing last week could mean layoffs and the closure of its Hunt Valley headquarters if it doesn’t find a buyer by April 1. If its sale efforts don’t succeed, Diamond would cease operations, close its main office and lay off as many as 168 employees, the company said this week in a federally mandated notification to the Maryland Department of Labor...."

The Diamond Distributors crisis impacting an already troubled comic book industry – IGN MSN

Who gets blamed for Diamond Distributors bankruptcy? DC Comics! – Cosmicbook – Article describes a "dire" landscape for small comics publishers who are facing a situation in which there is no organized outlet to get their product to the individual comic book stores. But the reason DC Comics is to blame for this isn't enunciated clearly in the article.

Reactions to the news about Diamond's bankruptcy – Bleedingcool

Steve Geppi founded Diamond Comic Distributors in February 1982 with one warehouse, seventeen customers and many competing distributors. Across forty years, it beat all the competition and became the dominant monopoly in the comic book direct market – though not according to the courts. But after it closed down temporarily during the pandemic, publishers were free from their contracts to seek alternative deals, and now Image and DC are with Lunar, Marvel, IDW and Dark Horse are with Penguin Random House, and Boom Studios is joining them..."

Vault Comics announces a plan to sell comics directly to retailers without a middleman distributor – Comicsbeat

Companies are scrambling to deal with a testy situation after Diamond Distributors files Chapter Eleven bankruptcy.

... It’s a plan that had been in the works for a while – and Vault is correctly distributed by Lunar and Simon & Schuster – but it will be interesting to see if more small publishers come up with their own plans as where and how stores get their comics begins to fracture even more..."

What's going to happen with Diamond? – MSN Screenrant

Diamond has a loan lined up from Chase and a Stalking Horse Bid in place from an affiliate of Universal Distribution for Alliance Game Distributors. A stalking horse bid is an initial bid, made by a potential suitor for a bankrupt company, that serves as the starting bid for any future bankruptcy proceedings. The bid places the starting value of Diamond's assets at $39 million..."

Original page January 28, 2025 | Upodated Feb 3, 2025