IDW Media Holdings is in the process of a private placement of shares to existing shareholders to raise $2.3 to $3 million, after showing a reduced loss in its first fiscal quarter, according to public filings.  The private placement, backstopped by a commitment from the Jonas family (including CEO Davidi Jonas) to provide up to $2 million of the funding, is scheduled to close on June 12.

The only specific purpose of the funding identified in the announcement is the support of IDW Publishing’s licensing activities, with maintaining reserves, providing working capital, allowing the company to act opportunistically, and general corporate purposes the other listed uses of the proceeds.

The company lost $237,000 in the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2024, a big improvement from the nearly $2 million loss in the same quarter a year ago.

Sales in the IDW Publishing segment were down 10%, to $5.9 million from $6.6 million in the year ago quarter.  The biggest reduction in sales was in direct billing revenue, mostly Scholastic Book Fairs, which was down $805,000 vs. the same quarter a year ago.  Direct market sales were down $256,000, digital sales were down $221,000, returns and discounts on book sales were up $181,000, and licensing and royalty revenues were down $22,000.  Two channels were up:  book market revenues were up $1.02 million due to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collections, and direct-to-consumer sales were up $115,000.

Sales from the IDW Entertainment segment were only $27,000.

IDW lost $4.9 million in the fiscal year ended last October 31, but has cut costs, including staff, substantially and said it expects to be cash flow positive at an unspecified future point (see "IDW Shows Quarterly Profit").