Feature writers would probably call it a crossover when moviegoers watch two completely different films in just one day. First the new Barbie comedy, whose pink hasn’t been able to escape for days. Then a full three hours of the thriller Oppenheimer, which shows the life story of the father of the atomic bomb. In the USA alone, more than 200,000 people watched both films in a row at the weekend, even giving this happening the nickname “Barbenheimer”. If they later switched on stock exchange television, they could see a third blockbuster. Barbörsenheimer, so to speak.
After all, the shares of the US cinema chain AMC on the New York Stock Exchange jumped by more than 100 percent in after-hours trading, and Hypeaktie papers in Frankfurt trading also rose by more than 70 percent in places on Monday morning. Because the investors in the cinema chain have been finding themselves in a film-ready thriller for months.
If you want to understand all this, you should first understand the matter of the two species of monkeys. Some of the monkeys known as “Apes” are risk-averse private investors who have relied on gambling stocks like AMC since the corona pandemic and ironically call themselves “monkeys” on the internet. The other monkeys also listen to the English abbreviation “APEs”, which in this case, however, stands for AMC Preferred Equity, special shares in the cinema chain AMC. In simple terms, one can say: monkeys and monkeys at the US cinema chain want to steal each other’s bananas.
Managers at the cinema chain sold special units of stock that they later wanted to make common stock
Because with every good film, the background story is inserted at some point, it’s no different here: the starving cinema chain AMC wanted to sell new shares as early as 2021 in order to collect several million dollars from investors. The problem? Existing investors balked, fearing for their power in the group if there was a flood of new investors. The managers of the cinema chain then dared a tricky maneuver: instead of normal ordinary shares, they sold the special share units (APEs), primarily to insiders and large investors.
Later, the theater executives wanted to make the special stock units ordinary common stock. However, around 2,800 private investors opposed this in a court in Delaware, who saw themselves as victims of a sinister plan. The cinema chain wants to break the power of private investors in favor of insiders and large investors.
Judge Morgan Zurn blocked a comparison between the cinema chain and investors late on Friday evening. Above all, she saw holders of the special stock units (APEs) at a disadvantage if they would ultimately have to give up any right to sue with the settlement. The private investors celebrated the stopped settlement, so they don’t have to share their influence in the group with the holders of the special stock units. So the story of AMC is the best stuff for a thriller – awfully complicated and awfully exciting.