MoviePass Parent Goes Dark On Nasdaq

Helios & Matheson Analytics, the parent company of MoviePass, was delisted from the Nasdaq on Tuesday (February 12).

A spokeswoman for Helios & Matheson said the delisting has “no effect on the day-to-day business operations of HMNY or its subsidiaries, including MoviePass and MoviePass Films,” according to Bloomberg. She added that the company expects its stock to start trading on the over-the-counter market on Wednesday (February 13).

The news comes after the company announced in October that it is creating a new subsidiary called MoviePass Entertainment Holdings Inc. that would take ownership of MoviePass and other film-related assets held by Helios and Matheson.

“For many years, HMNY has been focused on data analytics, and in that capacity, we own assets like Zone Technologies, which provides a safety and navigation app for iOS and Android users and a global security concierge service,” said Ted Farnsworth, chairman and chief executive officer of HMNY, at the time. “Since we acquired control of MoviePass in December 2017, HMNY largely has become synonymous with MoviePass in the public’s eye, leading us to believe that our shareholders and the market perception of HMNY might benefit from separating our movie-related assets from the rest of our company.”

Competition from Sinemia and AMC, as well as changes to its subscription plans, caused many MoviePass customers to jump ship and its parent company’s shares to plunge 60 percent last summer. But the subscription service is trying to make a comeback this year by launching a series of new subscription plans, including reintroducing its popular unlimited program.

The new company would hold the shares of MoviePass common stock, the movie theater subscription service, membership interests of MoviePass Films and HMNY’s movie production company.

“We believe this new vertically integrated entertainment ecosystem, if achieved, would provide a sharper market focus, and that the combination of these four business lines under the MoviePass Entertainment umbrella would produce substantial synergies that we believe will generate value for our shareholders, subscribers and business partners,” added Farnsworth.