A major cinema chain found a way to make its share price pop this week: offering investors a free sample of everyone’s favorite movie theater snack.
AMC Entertainment saw its stock price nearly double, albeit briefly, after it announced it would give free popcorn to investors through its “AMC Investor Connect,” a way for it to communicate with its shareholders. AMC was one of multiple “meme stocks” that investors on social media pumped up in January.
“Investors who sign up for AMC Investor Connect will receive an initial offer of a free large popcorn when attending a movie at AMC this summer, with more benefits to come,” the company wrote in a proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investors on r/WallStreetBets, a community on the social media platform Reddit, who are not part of large capital firms, tried to oppose the efforts of hedge funds in January by pumping up meme stocks, or holdings in companies such as GameStop and AMC that were hurt by the pandemic.
“Over the last several months, AMC has seen its retail shareholder base grow beyond 3 million owners,” the company’s statement read.
AMC media contact Ryan Noonan did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s question of how much the initiative was influenced by the January efforts of r/WallStreetBets.
The value of shares in AMC shot up after the announcement.
At the beginning of trading on Wednesday, the company was valued at about $37 per share, but it reached $69 per share before the exchange closed, according to MarketWatch.
This gain was short-lived, however, as AMC is set to sell nearly $11.6 million in shares, the company announced Thursday.
The move resulted in a 7% drop in share values, according to CNBC. The price went into freefall Thursday morning, dropping to $39 just after 11 a.m.
The price shot up again later in the day, reaching Wednesday’s levels at $67 at 2 p.m. before falling to about $50 at the close. At the opening of trading Friday, the price fluctuated around the $50 mark.
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Unlike AMC, other meme stocks, such as GameStop, made no moves to take advantage of their gain in popularity in the aftermath of the r/WallStreetBets incident, according to the Verge.
