NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) MoviePass, the movie theatre subscription service, has just announced new measures to accelerate profitability and Wall Street seems to like it, with the stock of its parent company jumping since the opening bell from $.71 to $2 – then plummeting to about 50 cents per share as the day unfolded.
MoviePass parent company Helios & Matheson Analytics (HMNY) announced the following:
- Actions that have been implemented are currently cutting the monthly burn by 60%.
- A future increase of the standard pricing plan to $14.95 per month within the next 30 days.
- First Run Movies opening on 1,000+ Screens to be limited in their availability during the first two weeks, unless made available on a promotional basis,
- Implementation of additional tactics to prevent abuse of the MoviePass service.
“Over the past year, we challenged an entrenched industry while maintaining the financially transparent records of a publicly traded company. We believe that the measures we began rolling out last week will immediately reduce cash burn by 60% and will continue to generate lower funding needs in the future,” said Ted Farnsworth, Chairman and CEO of Helios.
“These changes are meant to protect the longevity of our company and prevent abuse of the service. While no one likes change, these are essential steps to continue providing the most attractive subscription service in the industry. Our community has shown an immense amount of enthusiasm over the past year, and we trust that they will continue to share our vision to reinvigorate the movie industry,” said Mitch Lowe, MoviePass CEO.
Investors in MoviePass and Helios & Matheson recently met at New York’s Empire State Building to consider efforts, including a reverse stock split, that would keep HMNY stock on Nasdaq because it was threatening to dip below the listing price of $1. Despite those efforts, MoviePass recently ran out of money and had to shutter for an evening.
