AMC Entertainment Holdings’ stock jumped 42.4% Monday after reports that e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. was considering purchasing the movie theater operator.
According to the Daily Mail, Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos are “circling” the embattled theater owner and have reportedly held talks about a “potential takeover of AMC by Amazon.” The Daily Mail could not confirm if these discussions are still active or could lead to any deals.
AMC Entertainment Holdings stock was up 42.47% Monday morning, roughly $5.86 per share — more than double the company’s record low close on April 13, which totaled $2.08 per share.
The past few months have been tumultuous at best for the movie theater operator — last week it announced it would stop showing Universal Pictures films in its theaters after the studio opted to send a few hit titles, including “Trolls World Tour” straight to video on demand.
AMC’s most recent earnings report saw the company miss analyst predictions for both revenue and earnings. The company’s revenue dropped 6.4%, or $50 million, from first quarter of last year. Its net income was less than half the previous fiscal year, totaling $69 million.
AMC also said it saw domestic ad sales fall 11% during its first quarter as its theaters nationwide closed to combat COVID-19.
AMC’s national network subsidiaries include BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and AMC Studios, each of which reported losing revenue last quarter. It also owns owns the Carmike and AMC theater chains in the United States and also operates the Odeon Cinemas franchise in the United Kindgom. If Amazon were to take a stake in AMC, it would open venues globally its Amazon Studios production arm.
AMC is backed by majority investor Dailan Wanda Group, which bought an interest for roughly $421 million in September 2018 according to funding tracker PitchBook Data Inc.
AMC and Dailan Wanda did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment about a potential sale.