Shares of Helios and Matheson Analytics, the majority owner of MoviePass, plummeted more than 40% in early trading Thursday after it announced the pricing of a $30 million public share offering.
Helios and Matheson, which owns 92% of the MoviePass upstart movie-theater subscription service, on Thursday said in an SEC filing that the offering comprised 10.5 million shares at $2.75 per share — 28.2% below Wednesday’s stock closing price of $3.83 per share. The stock sale is part of Helios and Matheson’s plan to offer up to $150 million in a secondary stock offering, which it disclosed after Wednesday’s market close.
Shares of Helios and Matheson, traded on the Nasdaq with the ticker symbol “HMNY,” have been extremely volatile. The stock is now trading at less than 8% of its 52-week high closing price of $32.90 per share, after opening Thursday at $2.48.
Earlier this week, HMNY stock rose more than 30% as investors latched on to Verizon’s disclosure of a 9.3% ownership stake in the company. HMNY had actually revealed the stock deal with Verizon on April 5, as part of Helios and Matheson’s acquisition of the Moviefone service from Verizon’s Oath unit.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Helios and Matheson disclosed that an independent auditor had raised “substantial doubt” about MoviePass’s ability to continue operating as “a going concern.” HMNY reported a loss of $150.8 million in 2017, which it attributed to its acquisition of MoviePass in August 2017, on revenue of $10.4 million.
In its announcement Thursday, Helios and Matheson said the offering of 10.5 million shares is expected to close on or about April 23, 2018. The company said it may use the net proceeds to increase its ownership stake in MoviePass “or to support the operations of MoviePass and MoviePass Ventures.” It also said it might use the expected funds to pay off debt, for “general corporate purposes and transaction expenses,” or to make other acquisitions.
