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There's a new owner for what was once comics' monolithic distribution giant as Maryland court approves Diamond sale to Alliance Entertainment
After three months and a lawsuit, there's a new owner for Diamond Comic Distributors
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While the focus of the comic book industry was on the Windy City for the first day of C2E2, the Maryland bankruptcy court approved the sale of selected assets of Diamond Comic Distributors to Alliance Entertainment Friday, ending months of uncertainty surrounding the future of what used to be the leading distributor of comics, gaming, and pop culture memorabilia after the companies declared bankruptcy in January.
Judge David E. Rice issued an order approving the sale to Alliance Entertainment Friday morning, with the assets being purchased specified as the Alliance Game Distributors, Diamond Comic Distributors, the Collectible Grading Authority, and Diamond Select Toys. Alliance Game Distributors was listed as the primary focus of the purchase, with Diamond Comics, Diamond Select Toys, and the CGA collectively named as ‘Lot B’ in the order.
Notably not included in the order are either Diamond UK, the company's European distribution hub, or Free Comic Book Day, three weeks ahead of this year's event.
Alliance Game Distributors will be purchased for $36,865,000, minus $6,770,735 (an amount for Average Net Working Capital), plus 90% of the value of Alliance’s closing inventory. The Lot B properties will be purchased for $21,000,000 plus an Incentive Amount to be calculated at the end of 2025, minus cure amounts paid to creditors. The final total of monies owed by Alliance Entertainment for the purchase remains unclear, although the company estimated an amount in the region of $85 million in its lawsuit filing earlier this week.
About that lawsuit — filed at the start of the week by Alliance Entertainment when Diamond Comic Distributors asked the court to intercede and prevent the sale in favor of the runner-up bidder, Universal Distribution — the matter has been closed by the court’s approval of the sale; the company has dropped the lawsuit.
Closing date for the sale is set for April 25, although that matter is technically open to change at the request of the involved parties. What we’re particularly curious about at this point is what happens afterwards: at what point will fans notice a change in their shopping experiences because there’s a new boss behind the scenes of shipping pop culture merch, with a new primary focus? The fact that Alliance's primary purchase was the gaming distribution company, with the comics side of the business bundled into 'Lot B' flips the traditional backbone of the Diamond era on its head, it would seem. We take back what we said above - the sale may be approved, but this story is far from over.
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