Ad Populum begins the Gutting of Diamond and Diamond Select Toys

Last week, the sale of Diamond Comic Distributors, Diamond Select Toys, and more to Ad Populum was made official. As what happens with acquisitions like this, the new owners have rushed to fire staff. Usually the justification is that positions are redundant but it’s often to cut costs and make acquisitions more profitable. Ad Populum seems to have gone further in headscratcher moves that have come out due to leaks, rumors, and LinkedIn posts.

As reported on Friday by The Beat, there have been “massive layoffs” at Diamond Comic Distributors and Diamond Book Distributors described as a “bloodbath.” Chris Powell, Diamond’s Chief Sales & Service Officer announced on his Facebook page he was part of the gutting. Rich Johnson who was the Vice President Sales and Business Development has also ended his time with Diamond after a little over 3 years. Steve Leaf who is an Assistant Manager at Diamond is “open to work” according to LinkedIn and seeking a new role. Eric Beck who is the Executive Director of Business Intelligence & POS Tech is also “open to work” but also has not indicated his time has ended after over 32 years with the company. There’s others who have also listed they’re “open to work” on LinkedIn as well. Diamond has confirmed that Stuart Carter, Terry Helman, and Johnson are no long with the company.

There’s lots of questions coming out of this like the future of Comics Suite, Diamond’s point of sale system, and Pullbox, their customer pullbox/pre-order management system. Some have stated that the Pullbox technical support staff have been laid off and Beck’s “open to work” should raise concern and questions.

But beyond the firings, individuals have left the chaos on their own including marketing manager Ashton Greenwood who left to join Dover Publications and Caitlin McCabe who left earlier as well.

There’s also news that Diamond Select Toys is shutting down with those individuals being laid off as well. Ad Populum owns NECA, another toy company, and it’s likely they’ll be moving the licenses from Diamond Select Toys over to there or sitting on the licenses boxing out competition.

Zach Oat, the Marketing Supervisor of Diamond Select Toys and Katherine Layman, Development Assistant, have indicated they’re open to work and have been with the company for over 14 years and almost 9 years. Oat has posted that he was indeed part of the firings while Layman has listed May 2025 as an end date for employment..

Toy News International confirmed Diamond Select’s closing through retailers:

I have been able to confirm through several retailers that they have been informed DST is being shut down. It’s still not clear what will happen with open pre-orders but the general consensus from folks I have talked to is that they will be canceled.

For those who might have remembered, when Oni Press and Lion Forge merged, it resulted in layoffs and left the publishers directionless. It took years and some key hirings to right the ship and has resulted in a resurgence for the publisher. Will we see Diamond rise from the ashes stronger or will it suffer the fate of so many purchases where the once mighty and powerful are strangled slowly resulting in a shell of its former self until its finally put out of its misery with little fanfare? Companies aren’t usually bought to lose money but the drama of Diamond’s Chapter 11 (which continues) has been so full of wtf moments, we’re sure to see more before this finally ends.

But no matter, the layoffs are impacting real people, some we know and have contributed to the comic industry for years. They need support in these turbulent times and while we can mourn what was, we also need to work to support those who need help discovering what’s next for them.

Source: Graphic Policy