> But the company loses money when its customers use a pass, because it must pay theaters for the tickets.
This is some dotcom bubble 1.0 level stuff, "we'll sell at a loss and make it up in volume".
> Previous SEC filings revealed that the company was burning through an average of $21.7 million every month operating MoviePass. In May it blew through $40 million.
With zero growth to their customer base another $1.2 billion would last them 30 months. But if all goes according to plan they could lose this much faster:
> The service recently passed 3 million subscribers, and is trying to draw in more as part of the plan to stay afloat. Executives want to reach 5 million members by the end of the year, a number they say should help make the business profitable.
An article was just posted on HN titled “Why does your company deserve more money?” What could their answer possibly be?
Most people only care about the widely released movies. AMC has the $19.99 Stubs A Plus plan where you can see up to three movies a week, any format, you don’t have to jump through hoops, and you can buy in advance. I’m sure the other chains are going to follow suite.
From what I have read, AMC is accounting for each movie that you see as a ticket being sold at $8.99 and they give the movie studio 45-65% of the “ticket price”. They also have 65% profit margins on concessions. AMC can do it profitable. Movie Pass, can’t.
The parent company of MoviePass Helios and Matheson around October of last year was trading at highs of $30. Myself and a friend were exuberant saying it was a great short. Should have taken the short position... $HMNY is now trading at 18 cents a share. See the chart https://yhoo.it/2N30F0B
This is some dotcom bubble 1.0 level stuff, "we'll sell at a loss and make it up in volume".
> Previous SEC filings revealed that the company was burning through an average of $21.7 million every month operating MoviePass. In May it blew through $40 million.
With zero growth to their customer base another $1.2 billion would last them 30 months. But if all goes according to plan they could lose this much faster:
> The service recently passed 3 million subscribers, and is trying to draw in more as part of the plan to stay afloat. Executives want to reach 5 million members by the end of the year, a number they say should help make the business profitable.
Who would be crazy enough to invest?