IDW Publishing's CFO Owns NO STOCK In The Company Showing How Bad Of An Investment The Comic Industry Is

Yesterday, I joined IDW Publishing’s shareholder call, attempting to ask questions on behalf of the journalism here at Fandom Pulse. This is after my reporting on the company as they’ve sunk to ridiculous lows over the last couple of years. They’ve laid off over 40% of their staff, lost several licenses to properties, are in the process of losing more, and have seen their stock delist from the New York Stock Exchange and crumble in value. Yet, they continue on the exact same path with the exact same people at the helm of their business. Why?

In the comic book industry, politics trumps profit. The big players in the industry all cycle through the same people, using the same repeated strategies as they continue to fail. Nothing can be more evident than seeing Heather Antos continue getting promoted at IDW Publishing while bringing in her woke acolytes to cause problems with more books. It’s worth asking questions as a journalist about what’s going on over there in the midst of this.

The IDW Shareholder call was a question-and-answer session. I dialed in and was told the CEO was on the line to take questions right away. Someone who sounded like he could barely form a sentence asked the first question, something about Comixology and whether they have a deal with a new online platform. It was innocuous and yet pointless, given the company’s overall struggles.

I followed the instructions at the beginning of the call and put my name in the queue for questions. However, I was shocked to find that the company ended the call rather than take my question. It seemed like something from a modern-day political press conference where the President refuses to take questions.

I wanted to get confirmation from my sources that IDW was indeed losing the Star Trek license at the end of the year, that another major license is also in jeopardy, and what their plans were to rekindle their business. It was a standard question any journalist or shareholder would ask given the information. However, I wasn’t given this opportunity.

The hang-up prompted me to research IDW Publishing further, and I delved into their 2023 financials. In there, I found a couple of interesting things. 1. The shares are controlled mainly by a single family named Jonasi who has it split between them and installed one of their own as CEO in this recent shakeup. 2. The current CFO of the company, Andrew DeBaker, owns no common stock.

Given the state of the comic industry, nepotism at IDW didn’t surprise me, but finding the CFO isn’t even believing in IDW to the point of investing in his own company was shocking. As a financial man, it means the writing is on the wall there. This is a sinking ship that doesn’t have any course adjustment planned. One can only imagine being an investor in a company like this. 

IDW will use its one card to generate sales in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this summer, relaunching with an “all-new #1” to get speculators to pay attention. It’s worked with the first issue, which has sold over 300,000 copies, but retailers tell me these gimmicks usually wear off by issue 5, and at that point, the books have to sink or swim on their own. We’ll see how it does, but the overall strategy for IDW Publishing is not looking good.