"Get customers now, worry about making money later" is a prevailing mindset for tech startups. Sometimes that works, and sometimes you get a MoviePass. After MoviePass cut its all-you-can-watch movie theater subscription service to a tantalizing $9.95/month, it never quite managed to carve out enough of a profit to actually continue operating, and now the service is shutting down completely.
Helios and Matheson Analytics, the owner of MoviePass, put out a press release explaining that the public-facing service is shutting down tomorrow (September 14th) while the company looks for "a sale of the Company in its entirety, a sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets including MoviePass, Moviefone and MoviePass Films, a business reorganization or one or more other extraordinary corporate transactions."
MoviePass has been a blazing dumpster fire for the past year. After the subscription service dropped to $9.95/mo, then $6.95/mo, the parent company reverse-split its stocks (which caused them to fall in value by 40%), couldn't keep its own lights on, cut the selection of movies you could watch with the subscription, limited the subscription to just three movies a month, and finally tried to sell off MoviePass entirely. The company's stock price is now $0.0018 per share, compared to $5,100 in October 2017 (taking into account the post-split value).
*wet fart sounds*
While Helios and Matheson Analytics tries desperately to find someone to offload the remains of MoviePass to, its main competitor Sinemia is no more (at least in the United States), and theater-created services like AMC A-List offer some of the benefits MoviePass tried to include.
PRESS RELEASE
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. (the “Company” or “HMNY”) today announced that its board of directors has formed a strategic review committee (the “Committee”), composed entirely of the Company’s independent directors, to identify, review and explore all strategic and financial alternatives for the Company, including a sale of the Company in its entirety, a sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets including MoviePass™, Moviefone™ and MoviePass Films™, a business reorganization or one or more other extraordinary corporate transactions, together with the assumption or settlement of the Company’s liabilities in connection with any of these alternatives. The Company requests that all bona fide transaction proposals and expressions of interest be directed to the Committee at SRC@hmny.com. There can be no assurance that the Committee’s review process will result in any transaction.
In addition, on September 13, 2019, MoviePass™ notified its subscribers that it would be interrupting the MoviePass™ service for all its subscribers effective September 14, 2019, because its efforts to recapitalize MoviePass™ have not been successful to date. The Company is unable to predict if or when the MoviePass™ service will continue. The Company is continuing its efforts to seek financing to fund its operations. There can be no assurance that any such financing will be obtained or available on terms acceptable to the Committee.
About Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. currently owns approximately 92% of the outstanding shares (excluding options and warrants) of MoviePass Inc., 100% of the outstanding membership interests in MoviePass Ventures LLC, 51% of the outstanding membership interests in MoviePass Films LLC, and the Moviefone™ brand and service. HMNY’s holdings also include Zone Technologies, Inc., creator of RedZone Map™, a safety and navigation app for iOS and Android users. HMNY is headquartered in New York, NY. For more information, visit us at www.hmny.com.
