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As if the past few days haven’t been busy enough when it relates to the bankruptcy proceedings for onetime comics and gaming monopoly Diamond Comic Distributors and its associated businesses, April 30 2025 looks set to be one of the busiest days in a long time, as the Bankruptcy Court of the District of Maryland will hear a motion over whether or not Diamond and assets can be sold to a new owner as quickly as possible, while former buyer Alliance Entertainment has filed a motion attempting to slow the process down. And according to court filings, Diamond is spending over $5 million a month as this process goes on - and its primary gaming vendor Wizards of the Coast is ending its 25+ year relationship today.

As we write, Judge David E. Rice is hearing arguments over whether or not Diamond and its related assets — which include Alliance Game Distributors, Diamond UK, and the Collectible Grading Authority — will be authorized for purchase by a consortium of Universal Distribution and Sparkle Pop LLC, a newly formed (as in, incorporated on April 4, 2025 as per government records) affiliate company of Ad Populum, the previously named partner of Universal in the original bid process.

The details surrounding Sparkle Pop’s creation are murky at present, but it’s worth noting that Alliance Entertainment — which had previously been in line to purchase Diamond’s assets before ending the deal after discovering that the company had seemingly been committing fraud by misleading potential buyers about its financial position — has previously claimed that Ad Populum did not have the financial backing it had claimed to the court in order to secure its potential purchase.

Diamond seeks an accelerated sale, but former buyer Alliance Entertainment hopes to hit the brakes

Diamond’s filing of a motion encouraging the courts to approve a sale to Universal and Sparkle Pop was accompanied by a second motion, to shorten the timeframe of the sale. The company’s primary argument in this degree is that “a prompt hearing is in the best interests of the Debtors, their estates, and their creditors,” as per the filing, which also notes “the Debtors have been informed that expedited approval of the relief requested in the Motion is a necessary element to extended debtor-in-possession lender financing by the Debtors’ lender, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.”

In other words, if Diamond is going to continue to borrow money to continue to stay open prior to a future sale, it needs the sale to happen faster. For context, Alliance Entertainment suggested in a court filing that Diamond has spent somewhere in the region of $16 million in the past three months, since it initially filed for bankruptcy on January 14. 

Alliance, which is currently suing Diamond and those in charge of its bankruptcy proceedings over the aforementioned alleged fraud, is not taking this potential new purchase lying down; even as Judge Rice was about to start the in-person deliberation over whether or not to allow the Diamond sale to these secondary bidders, Alliance filed an official objection to Diamond’s request for an accelerated sale, alleging that the sale represents “further collusion on the part of the Debtors to sell their assets to their preferred buyers rather than maximize value to their creditors and estates,” and that more time is necessary to fully evaluate the situation.

Amongst its reasoning for the request for more time is the fact that the discovery that Wizards of the Coast is ending its relationship with Diamond as of April 30, thereby reducing the expected revenue for Alliance Game Distributors by 25% (roughly $39.88 million in annual revenue, as per Alliance Entertainment’s estimations), should trigger the legal requirement for a ‘Material Adverse Change’ in Diamond’s value in the court’s view. Such a change, Alliance Entertainment argues, should not be ignored in a rush to ensure Diamond's purchase.

The known unknowns, and unknown unknowns, that could decide everything for Diamond

It's worth noting that Alliance Entertainment didn't uncover the truth surrounding Wizards of the Coast leaving Diamond until after its own purchase agreement for Diamond had been approved by the court and it got access to information that had previously been withheld. Depending on whether or not there are more such surprises in Diamond's books that haven't been made public yet, it's not impossible that the Universal/Sparkle Pop consortium could similarly decide that Diamond isn't worth purchasing across the next few weeks, accelerated process or no.

As if all of that isn’t enough, the court also has to consider whether or not the fact that Diamond has failed to file required monthly financial statements since initially filing for bankruptcy makes it an unreliable party and therefore open to potential liquidation. Officially, the hearing for that subject isn't due until May 27, but the very fact that Diamond's bookkeeping (or lack thereof) has not only triggered a hearing on the matter as well as prompting the court's original approved buyer to terminate its deal is surely likely to play some part in Judge Rice's decision regarding any potential sale, accelerated or otherwise. 

The hearing is currently underway as this story is being written, and it's safe to say that Diamond's future as a company potentially hangs in the balance. Consider this story an ongoing one.

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