[2017] Movie Pass

[Laurawilcox]

Have had MoviePass for almost a year now. 3 for our family. It is a pain to learn how to use but really enjoy it at $10 per person per month.

 

[Kozman]

I too have been required to do this on the last two movies I've attended. When it works it's not a real hassle, but just yesterday I ran into another trap that everyone should be aware of. I went to the theater and thought I checked in for a movie. It said I had 30 minutes to purchase my ticket. No problem. But when I went to use the MP the purchase was rejected! The attendant tried several times even from a different register. In frustration, I tried to reserve a different movie that was conveniently playing in an acceptable time frame. The same thing, the purchase was rejected. They asked me if I had a signal on my cell. Yes, I had 4 bars! They suggested I go outside and try again after restarting my phone. When I tried to reserve my original 1st movie it said I already had a reservation waiting. I went inside and the transaction went through this time. When asked to photo the ticket I did and submitted it. However, it then asked me to photo the second movie ticket that I didn't purchase. I had no ticket. The alternative was to give them an explanation which is limited to 250 words. This morning I got a nastygram from them reminding me of required participation in their test program, yada, yada, yada with the added threat that not doing so would/might cause forfeiture of my remaining subscription.

Bottom line. Be very careful to hang onto your ticket stub and comply. Also, if there is a fail in their app to follow through with a purchase do not try a different movie. Go outside, reboot your phone and try the original movie again. Their app is buggy!

 

[MULTIZ321]

MoviePass Company Stock Will Rise from 8 cents to $21 After Shareholder Vote
By Jill Disis/ Media/ Money/ CNN/ money.cnn.com

"In imminent danger of falling off the Nasdaq stock exchange, MoviePass' parent company approved a plan to boost its stock price 250-fold.

The board of directors Helios and Matheson (HMNY) gave the green light to a reverse stock split.


Stockholders will trade in 250 shares for a single share worth 250 times as much. The stock price, which closed at about 8 cents on Tuesday, will rise Wednesday to about $21.

It's a largely cosmetic change for shareholders, since their stakes would be valued the same after the reverse split. But it could keep the stock trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The stock became so cheap that it was in danger of being delisted. It has fallen sharply as investor doubts have grown about the viability of MoviePass, which lets customers see a movie a day in the theater for $10 a month.

Shareholders also voted to increase the number of shares of common stock from 500 million to 5 billion, so the company can sell more shares. They also voted to increase the total number of shares of capital stock by the same amount.

Tapping into capital markets is a big part of Helios and Matheson's strategy for staying afloat...."

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

MoviePass' Parent Company Eyes Massive Reverse Stock Split
By Nicolas Vega/ Business/ New York Post/ nypost.com

"MoviePass, the cash-strapped movie-subscription plan, is eyeing a 1-for-250 reverse stock split, it said Tuesday.

The move is aimed at keeping its shares from being delisted. Shares of Helios & Matheson Analytics, the MoviePass parent, closed Tuesday at 8.5 cents.

Under the reverse split at current values, H&M shares would be worth $21.25....."

AP


Richard

 

[PigsDad]

Does anyone know of a company that has done this level of a reverse-split and eventually survived? This seems like a desperate move by management to make the company "look" more viable, since getting de-listed is usually a death spiral.

Kurt

 

[Steve Fatula]

For known companies, Priceline.com comes to mind, quite a success after it's 1 for 6 reverse split. Labcorp also had a 1 for 10 and did quite well. Not aware of any 1 for 100+ off hand. De-listing is of course a bad thing. I wouldn't want to be a stockholder!

 

[breezez]

For known companies, Priceline.com comes to mind, quite a success after it's 1 for 6 reverse split. Labcorp also had a 1 for 10 and did quite well. Not aware of any 1 for 100+ off hand. De-listing is of course a bad thing. I wouldn't want to be a stockholder!

Tell me about at one point I was a stock holder of HMNY. Let’s just say it wasn’t my best investment and I now need to watch a lot of movies to break even

 

[breezez]

Does anyone know of a company that has done this level of a reverse-split and eventually survived? This seems like a desperate move by management to make the company "look" more viable, since getting de-listed is usually a death spiral.

Kurt

They keep devaluing current stock owners by issuing new stock all the time to raise more capital to burn through.

AMC one of the largest chains plans to compete against them.

 

[Steve Fatula]

They keep devaluing current stock owners by issuing new stock all the time to raise more capital to burn through.

They can raise more shares, but, they are not exactly encouraging people top buy their stock by doing so!

 

[breezez]

They can raise more shares, but, they are not exactly encouraging people top buy their stock by doing so!

I kind of disagree their is an entire Army of people that dump money at penny stocks all the time. Many of them day trade. Look at StockTwits.

 

[PigsDad]

They can raise more shares, but, they are not exactly encouraging people top buy their stock by doing so!

I know -- I would never invest in a company that is planning on increasing their number of outstanding shares by a factor of 10!

Kurt

 

[Steve Fatula]

I kind of disagree their is an entire Army of people that dump money at penny stocks all the time. Many of them day trade. Look at StockTwits.

$21.25 is not a penny stock by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[dioxide45]

$21.25 is not a penny stock by any stretch of the imagination.

It was a penny stock before the reverse-split. I think it was at $0.08 a share, per the article.

 

[Steve Fatula]

It was a penny stock before the reverse-split. I think it was at $0.08 a share, per the article.

Correct, and my statement was "They can raise more shares, but, they are not exactly encouraging people to buy their stock by doing so!". The article said "Shareholders also voted to increase the number of shares of common stock from 500 million to 5 billion, so the company can sell more shares. They also voted to increase the total number of shares of capital stock by the same amount." Emphasis mine.

i.e., to say another way, after the reverse split, who is really going to invest in those new shares? Are you going to buy shares after the reverse split? They went hand in hand. My response was, who would do that? Any new purchase would be (on the day trade opens at the new price) at $21.25 or so, I suspect lower.

 

[breezez]

It was a penny stock before the reverse-split. I think it was at $0.08 a share, per the article.

Give it a couple months it will be a penny stock again

 

[dioxide45]

Correct, and my statement was "They can raise more shares, but, they are not exactly encouraging people to buy their stock by doing so!". The article said "Shareholders also voted to increase the number of shares of common stock from 500 million to 5 billion, so the company can sell more shares. They also voted to increase the total number of shares of capital stock by the same amount." Emphasis mine.

So they are doing a reverse split at 10:1 then increasing the number of shares 10 fold. The market capitalization really doesn't change, won't the new shares just be selling at eight cents again in no time? It all seems silly.

 

[bnoble]

Give it a couple months it will be a penny stock again

Yeah, that's my sense too. I enjoy having it, and have recommended it to a few folks, but have also told them that I expect the company to be short for this world, so enjoy it while they can.

 

[PigsDad]

So they are doing a reverse split at 10:1 then increasing the number of shares 10 fold. The market capitalization really doesn't change, won't the new shares just be selling at eight cents again in no time? It all seems silly.

Actually, according to the article they are doing a 250:1 reverse split! Grasping at straws, I say...

Kurt

 

[wackymother]

I plan to see a lot of movies in the next couple of weeks. A LOT of movies.

 

[Ken555]

MoviePass stopped working because it ran out of money

http://flip.it/1LiNK4


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[dioxide45]

Why don't they just up the price? Heck even at $20 a month, it would be a bargain for most.

 

[MULTIZ321]

The MoviePass Outage Isn't a Glitch. It Needed $5 Million to Pay Its Partners
Katie Notopoulos/ News/ Trending/ BuzzFeedNews/ buzzfeednews.com

"The company told customers its service outage was due to a "technical issue."

MoviePass customers discovered on Thursday that they couldn't get tickets. The service lets you see (mostly) unlimited movies for a flat fee (even though it has notoriously bad customer service). MoviePass tweeted that it was experiencing "technical issues."

It turns out the company actually ran low on money.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that MoviePass's parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics, made on Friday morning, it had to take out a $5 million short-term loan to pay some of its partners.

The loan is from a hedge fund called Hudson Bay Capital Management, and MoviePass's parent company has to start paying it back by the beginning of August, which is, um, really soon.

BuzzFeed News has reached out to MoviePass and Hudson Bay for comment.

Helios and Matheson is, well, not doing great these days.

And some people felt the fact that it scrambled to borrow money but told its customers it was experiencing technical issues was, heh, a little sus...."

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

MoviePass Crashed Because It Ran Out of Money
By Proma Khosla/ Entertainment/ Mashable/ mashable.com

"MoviePass faced a service outage on Thursday when the company couldn't afford to pay for users' movie tickets, CBS reports.

Parent company Helios and Matheson missed a payment to one of the companies helping finance its outrageous model. The app has been down ever since.

Helios and Matheson borrowed $5 million in cash on Friday to pay back its fulfillment provider and get the service up and running again, but at press time the app was still down.

Image: mashable/proma khosla


Richard

 

[WalnutBaron]

Here's the Wall Street Journal's report on MoviePass, which emphasized that the short-term loan carries "unusual terms that favor the lender".


"Cash-strapped movie subscription service MoviePass suffered a service outage and its majority owner took out an expensive short-term loan to pay vendors in order to restore full operations.

RELATED

• MoviePass Proves Great for Customers, Disastrous for Investors

The outage, which caused ticketing issues for customers on Thursday and Friday, adds to difficulties that have undercut the company’s stock over the past year.

MoviePass majority owner Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY -70.72% received $5 million under a loan from a Hudson Bay Capital Management investment fund to help pay merchant and fulfillment processors, which cut off the movie-subscription service, the company said in a securities filing Friday.

Customers who tried to access the MoviePass app Friday saw a message saying there were “technical issues with our card-based check-in process,” by which tickets are issued from a kiosk using a special debit card. The app noted it was still possible to get e-tickets from theaters with which MoviePass has a deal that lowers it costs, which include several small chains.

A tweet from the MoviePass Twitter account on Friday said the technical problem “is not with our card processing partners.” MoviePass, through its account, apologized in tweets directly to customers about service problems.

MoviePass said the service was back online by Friday afternoon “with stability at 100%.” Along with the restoration of service, MoviePass implemented new terms limiting subscribers’ ability to see certain popular films. The app no longer allowed subscribers to see the newly released “Mission: Impossible—Fallout” except at the theaters with which the company has a special deal.

A Hudson Bay spokeswoman declined to comment.

Shares in Helios & Matheson fell 71% to $2 in Friday trading. The stock has plunged from its October high of $32.90, to as low as 8 cents this week. Earlier this week, the company implemented a 1-for-250 reverse stock split.

MoviePass has proven popular with customers, but analysts and industry executives have questioned the sustainability of its business model. The service lets subscribers pay a monthly fee, currently about $10 a month, to see up to one movie per day. MoviePass rolled out “surge pricing” earlier this month, adding a fee for customers to see certain films when demand is high.

Theater chains such as Cinemark Holdings Inc. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. cinema chain, have also launched movie-subscription programs for patrons.

Helios & Matheson said in mid-June that MoviePass had more than 3 million subscribers. It also has said MoviePass may not be profitable on subscriber revenue alone but that its user data can help sell advertisements and drive box-office revenue, which MoviePass can capture through deals with studios and cinemas. In the quarter ended March 31, MoviePass lost $98.3 million on $48.6 million of revenue, according to regulatory filings.

The short-term loan obtained by Helios & Matheson carries unusual terms that favor the lender. New York-based Hudson Bay can demand payment of half of the loan amount on Aug. 1 with the rest payable Aug. 5, according to a securities filing. The MoviePass parent also agreed to pay late fees of 15% annualized interest after any default and to pay back the debt at a 130% redemption price if certain payments are overdue by more than 48 hours. Because of a discount on the loan, Helios & Matheson received $5 million in cash out of $6.2 million borrowed."

 

[MULTIZ321]

Future of MoviePass is Cast in Doubt After Service Outage, Experts Say
By Mihir Zaveri/ Business Day/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

"MoviePass, the subscription-based movie ticket service, was forced last week to borrow $5 million after it reported it could not pay its bills, raising new questions about the embattled company’s viability.

Helios and Matheson Analytics, its parent company, said in a regulatory filing on Friday that MoviePass had experienced a “service interruption” the day before because it could not make “required payments to its merchant and fulfillment processors.”

In a message to subscribers on Friday, the company’s chief executive, Mitch Lowe, apologized for the outage, during which some of its three million subscribers could not check in to see movies, and said the service was “up-and-running with stability at 100%.”

It’s far from the first time MoviePass has dealt with technical glitches and unexpected shifts in service. But after the outage, observers on Sunday sharpened their criticism of the company, which in 2011 set out to transform the industry amid rising theater ticket prices and increased competition from movie streaming services....."

MoviePass, a subscription-based service for movie theater tickets, was forced to borrow $5 million last week after it said it could not pay its bills.CreditMike Segar/Reuters


Richard