Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: Davidi Jonas, tmnt

IDW Publishing States They Will Definitely Be Around For Another Year

IDW Publishing states that they definitely have enough cash to be around for at least another year. We'll find ourt more today.

Published Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:57:04 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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IDW Publishing is one of those curious publishers, one of the biggest American comic book publishers, which has been through some tumultuous times (and owners) since it was originally founded by former Wildstorm employees. But has given us everything from Locke & Key to 30 Days Of Night to Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees and even League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen when it was too much for DC. But it has had significant problems over the years, has been heavily IP-license based, and has then seen those licenses pulled, like Star Wars, Doctor Who, Transformers and Marvel itself. But, often in the face of my own expectations, it has taken a licking and has kept on ticking. And as a publicly traded company, it has to make its business more transparent than that of its privately owned rivals. Which also means, more reportable.

Later today, comic book publisher IDW Publishing CEO Davidi Jonas will hold an earnings conference call and answer questions about the publisher's future and current state. I am not entirely sure that he will ever top the one he made while driving in his car, in which he told investors that if the TV and film plan had worked out, they'd all be on a yacht. But it didn't.

IDW, like all major and minor comic book publishers, have had a rough year, principally down to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Diamond Comic Distributors. According to their most recent financial report, IDW had to write off $745,000, which was being subdistributed by Diamond Comic Distributors from their exclusive distributor, Penguin Random House. Bleeding Cool previously reported that it looked like Penguin was trying to stick IDW with this sum from the $9 million owed by Diamond to Penguin Random House before bankruptcy, and that this made up 15–20% of its direct market sales via Penguin Random House. With Penguin Random House handling over 80% of IDW's total revenue, IDW is exploring other distribution options. Lunar? Universal? AENT? We wait to find out.

The most recent financial report from IDW, ending the 30th of April 2025, saw revenues of $4.8 million, a 31.5% decrease from $7 million in the same period last year, almost solely due to their publishing of comics. IDW posted a loss of $533,000 for the quarter, which was up from the $893,000 loss in the same period in 2024. However, taking in a full six months, including the Diamond bankruptcy, IDW's loss was $1.7 million, up from $1.1 million for the six months before.

However, they still have plenty of cash available, and IDW Publishing saw its gross margin improve to 42.0% from 38.6%, driven by reduced printing and royalty costs. As we have mentioned before, IDW also cite supply chain disruptions from "Yemen-based Houthi militia attacks on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea" for their international shipping, but are currently unaffected by US tariffs as print is excepted.

As for comics, their revenues decreased by $911,000 in the quarter, compared to the previous year, and they cite"decreases in comic book market publishing revenue of $530,000 driven by prior year sales of
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Re-Evolution and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150, licensing revenue of $187,000 due to prior year video game activity, direct billing revenue of $159,000 driven mostly by decreased retail incentive orders, direct-to-consumer sales of $140,000, and book market publishing revenue of $138,000, offset by a decrease in sales returns and discounts on book sales of $211,000, and increases in digital sales of $32,000 driven by an increase in Humble Bundle activity."

And that revenues "decreased by $1,877,000 in the six months ended April 30, 2025, compared to the six months ended April 30, 2024, due to decreases in book market publishing revenue of $1,564,000 driven by prior year sales of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Lost Years, direct-to-consumer sales of $242,000 driven by participation in fewer conventions, licensing and royalty revenues of $212,000 due to prior year video game activity, and direct billing revenue of $149,000 driven mostly by decreased Retail Exclusive orders, offset by a decrease in sales returns and
discounts on book sales of $179,000, and increases in digital sales of $111,000 driven by an increase in Humble Bundle activity."

Basically, they didn't have as strong tentpole Turtles titles so far this year as they did with Last Ronin, and TMNT #150, and there aren't as many retailer exclusive covers as they used to have

They have also enacted a 1-for-100 reverse stock split, so every 100 old shares, is converted to one new share, so the amount of shares will reduce from 38 million to 380,000 and the value from around 40 cents to around $40, so the total value doesn't change, but it does look a bit better.

And while they may not have any TV shows in production right now, Locke & Key and Wynonna Earp are still in the air, and they have active discussions underway for projects based on titles such as Kill Lock, Dungeon, The Delicacy, You Wish, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, and Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Mountainhead, Arca, and Dark Spaces.

And they do see IDW will be around for at least another year, saying "We anticipate that our expected cash inflows from operations during the next twelve months together with our working capital, including the balance of cash and cash equivalents held as April 30, 2025 will be sufficient to sustain our operations for at least the twelve months following the date of this report. While the Company has experienced negative operating cash flow during certain prior periods, we saw positive operating cash flows in fiscal 2024, and we anticipate recent operating expense reductions, primarily as a result of reductions in force in April 2023, April 2024, and August 2024 will result in future positive operating cash flow." "Reductions in force" is corporate speak for layoffs, of course. The IDW earnings conference call will be held today at 4.30 pm ET.

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