it appears that Penguin Random House intends to pass on any unpaid debt they have from Diamond to IDW and, possibly, the other publishers as well. Penguin Random House is the biggest creditor for Diamond, to the tune of nine million dollars. And it seems that they may want IDW and the other publishers to make up these losses out of future earnings. Which may explain Marvel’s interest. In the audit section of the report, prepared by an independent auditor, it is noted that there is “Substantial Doubt About the Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” the entity being IDW, and stating;
“the accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 19 to the financial statements, the collectability of certain receivables sold by the Company’s distributor are in question and the dollar amount of the receivable in question cannot be estimated at this time and has stated that substantial doubt exists about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The Diamond bankruptcy could bring a lot of publishers down. The initial focus was on the smaller publishers as the remaining distributors don’t look like they are going to take them on. However, IDW is a well-known name with key licenses (TMNT, Star Trek and Sonic) and it looks like they are caught between two distributors neither of whom look interested in footing the bill. That kind of thing is going to harm those doing the most business, so small and medium publishers may be into a world of hurt.