May 1, 2025
(Publisher's Weekly)
–
In a press release issued yesterday,
Diamond Comic Distributors
said that the
U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland
has approved a combined bid by Universal Distribution and Ad Populum to acquire the assets of the bankrupt company.
The two companies had filed a joint bid for
$69.1 million
for all of Diamond's assets with the exception of Diamond
UK
, an offer that was topped by
Alliance Entertainment
, whose offer eventually reached
$85 million
. Diamond accepted, and then rescinded, its agreement with Alliance, saying it favored the Universal/Ad Populum offer, only to reverse course and once again accept the Alliance bid. That deal fell apart in late April when Alliance terminated its agreement, charging that Diamond had mislead the company in not revealing it had lost the distribution business of one of its biggest vendors, Wizards of the Coast. Alliance then filed a lawsuit charging Diamond with fraud and seeking
$8.5 million
in damages.
Whether this new deal will finally settle the battle for Diamond remains a question. In a motion connected to the new agreement, Diamond asked the bankruptcy court to approve the deal quickly, possibly within a few days and not later than
May 14
. Alliance objected to that timeframe in its own motion, explaining that its preliminary analysis of the bid suggests that the value of the offer doesn't exceed its own offer. The filing asks that Diamond's request to shorten the closing period be denied and replaced with a latter date to provide Alliance "and all other interested parties a chance to further evaluate the Universal/Ad Populum bid."
Under that agreement, reported to be for about
$50 million
, Universal will acquire the assets of Alliance Game Distributors, and Ad Populum will acquire the assets of
Diamond Comic Distributors
, Diamond Book Distributors, Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles,
Collectible Grading Authority
.
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