AMC Entertainments’s stock is in freefall, with no signs of bottoming out yet.
July’s Barbenheimer weekend—the coinciding release of Barbie and Oppenheimer—along with the release of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour film in October made the movie theater chain’s stock pop last year. Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour movie release on Dec. 1 also propped it up. But big cinema and music moments quickly fizzled out—and now AMC’s stock has fallen to its all-time low.
AMC’s stock closed at $5.30 yesterday (Jan. 4) after a four-day losing spree. The stock’s previous record closing low was $6.07, set on Dec. 21, 2023.
AMC’s shares have been sliding throughout 2023. For starters, the wave a meme stock mania began diminishing; Hollywood strikes dampened sentiments in the film industry. A share selloff in August shaved off 35% from the stock’s value. Days later, the stock sunk 24% after the company announced a 10-for-1 stock split. In September, the company’s plans to sell additional shares tanked stock value another 30%. In November, underperformance from Disney’s latest film, Wish, pulled down the already-troubled stock.
Quotable: AMC is still here...
“To the prophets of doom certain that AMC would fail as a company and be forced into bankruptcy court in 2023: It is December 31, so we all know that YOU WERE WRONG. AMC is still here, still innovating, still blazing new trails. To the rest of you (think Apes) Happy New Year!”
Two big number: Dealing with AMC’s debt
$9.3 billion: Total debt AMC had racked up at the end of September 2023, much of it to lift itself out of the pandemic. Its arrears have more than quadrupled from the $2 billion debt burden it had when since Aron started at the company in January 2016.
$22.5 million: The amount AMC sold roughly 3.3 million of its shares for between Dec. 28-29 in private exchange agreements to reduce its debt, according to a regulatory filing from Tuesday (Jan. 2). “The Company may engage in similar transactions in the future but is under no obligation to do so,” it said.