AMC Entertainment’s chairman and CEO, Adam Aron, responded to irate shareholders on social media over the weekend after $184 million worth of stock was sold.
Late on Thursday, AMC revealed that it had sold $183.8 million worth of stock, before commissions and fees, at a price of $3.68 per share using its power for an at-the-market offering.
In a message on the X platform, Aron included a picture of a button with the words “cash is king.” “We realize from the vitriolic messages on X/Twitter that some of you don’t approve, but I cannot emphasize enough that it is so absolutely vital and crucial for AMC to have robust cash reserves,” he wrote.
AMC (AMC) saw a sharp decline from its 2021 meme-stock peak of $393.63 to end Friday at $3.50 per share.
According to FactSet, Aron hasn’t sold any AMC stock since 2021 and currently owns over 723,000 shares.
Through the end of September, AMC has lost $217 million this year, despite spending $290 million on interest. It acknowledged that its cash burn rates are “not sustainable long-term” and that it must restore income to pre-COVID levels in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. That is not at all the case; North American box office receipts decreased by almost 25% compared to 2019.
The movie chain owed $4.1 billion in financing lease liabilities and corporate borrowings.
