At the start of the month, we covered how the battle to buy Diamond Comic Distributors had got weirdly nasty.
It looked like Alliance Entertainment had won, but then Diamond said it was selling itself to Ad Populum (aka NECA and WizKids), so Alliance filed legal papers to stop that sale from happening. Alliance won that case, with the judge siding with them.
Now? ICv2 reports that Alliance has now pulled out. The deal is off and terminated.
There is speculation, but no confirmation, that Trump’s tariffs have damaged the geeky merchandise economy to such an extent that the deal no longer makes sense for Alliance.
An SEC filing from Alliance Entertainment reads;
On April 24, 2025, the Company sent a Notice of Termination to Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (“Diamond”), terminating the previously executed Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Diamond through a court-supervised bankruptcy process. The termination was effective immediately.”
Ad Populum has the official “backup bidder” status and may now win the auction. Ad Populum is Canadian, not American, but it will face the same problems as Alliance Entertainment in getting board games and other materials made in China to the USA. Whether they would still want Diamond Comic Distributors in the current trade climate is unclear.
