Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Ad Populum, diamond

Staffer: Diamond "Will Not Last Much Longer, Maybe… End Of The Year"

Sparkle Pop's Diamond Comics business division "will not last much longer, maybe not even until the end of the year" says departing longtime staffer.

In January, Diamond Comic Distributors Inc announced it was entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In May, the assets of the company were sold off, and in the end, Ad Populum/Sparkle Pop bought Diamond's comic book distribution business division assets, the major comic book direct market distributor for the last forty years.  This development did little to stem the tide of publishers leaving Diamond, and despite subsequent public assurances made about working to "shape the future of Diamond", with a goal to "rebuild trust" and a commitment to "maintaining strong, ongoing relationships with our vendor partners" those partners subsequently reported that their inquiries about payments were ignored.  A Sparkle Pop exec then told Bleeding Cool that they were restricted from dealing directly with any consignment vendors by the debtor.  That all played out between late May and early July, and there have been a number of twists and turns in the bankruptcy process since then.

Now, following the closure of the Diamond Previews catalogue, it seems that, in the opinion of some who have watched developments from the inside, it may be getting closer to the stage where the Diamond Comics business division will be no more. Previously, departing Previews writer Allyn Gibson posted to LinkedIn, "My hunch/fear is that AdPop will decide to wind down operations, treating what they've spent as a sunk cost and cutting their losses, because it's hard to see where and how revenue will grow. So just be ready."

Allyn Gibson then followed that up with posts to his blog, on the day he was cleaning out his cubicle at the company. "Diamond, what remains of it – and I am speaking here of the active distribution business, not the "estate" – will not last much longer, maybe not even until the end of the year. At least one of the Brand Managers in Purchasing was let go yesterday, and the Purchasing Team was already depleted from departures, by choice or not. The company — maybe division is a better word — isn't developing new business, isn't trying to develop new business. There's no active desire to generate new revenue, just a resigned state of affairs in monetizing what remains in Olive Branch. This is not a viable business model over the long-term. It's about extracting what value can be bled from the stone now, and when no more value can be wrought, wind it down and shutter it,"

"To the few who remain, please look to leave sooner rather than later. Diamond Comic Distributors II is living on borrowed time. I thought today, driving home, that Alliance Entertainment, which had won the bankruptcy auction for the assets, probably dodged a bullet when they withdrew their bid and the consultants went with the back-up bidders instead. I thought about a situation where Alliance had won the auction and taken ownership… and then the estate said, "Oh, wait a minute, you don't own any of the consignment vendor merchandise, neither do the vendors. It all belongs to us.""

Bleeding Cool has also heard from other sources at Sparkle Pop's Diamond Comics business division, who tell me that a large bulk sale of Diamond Select Toys product is coming, but after which, staff are expecting that Ad Populum/Sparkle Pop may cut its losses and shut the Diamond Comics business division down. What may happen next, we just don't know.

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