This might prove they were talking with other companies. Right after they did the split the CEO was interviewed and asked about their dropping stock price. If you remember he continued to defend the company and said that there were several major players they were in talks with and that they had been offered money already. Of course people thought this was total BS and hardly anyone believed them. Just the ramblings of a guy trying to keep his failing company afloat as long as possible when it was clear they were in trouble and having a hard time just paying credit card processors.
THEN we find out at the end of last week that they were in talks with Trinity and had rejected an offer from them. Here is a quote from the article "the company seemed open to discussions at first, Yaffa said. By Friday, though, he and Triton’s other founders were told Helios and Matheson was no longer interested, he reported"
Now what do I gleam from that? No one knew they were in talks with Trinity until they announced Friday they wanted to do a sort of takeover. So if no one knew, then maybe the CEO of HMNY wasn't lying when he said they were in talks with "several" other players. No deal has been announced obviously but who is to say they aren't still negotiating on something that will help turn them around or at the least provide them some more capital to keep hanging on longer?
I think the companies business model is flawed and they are a sinking ship but at the same time, the data from 3 million subscribers has to be of interest to multiple companies because as we've learned from the age of the internet, data is King. If they could prove that they can steer their customer base towards certain movies or even theater chains then that would be a powerful tool. My wife and I see everything at the movies and I love getting a deal so I use the card often.
They did succeed in making me not see Mission Impossible the first weekend when they blocked it. However by the second weekend my wife opted to pay for it on an XD screen. If they deterred a quarter million other people from seeing that movie on opening day then that in itself is a very powerful tool in their arsenal. It pisses people off sure but I still see value in the card even after they raised the price to $15 because I'm still seeing 10 movies a month and that far surpasses the measly 15 bucks I pay for the subscription.
If they come to me(a subscriber) and say hey we will let you see those blockbusters for free but you just have to wait 2 weeks after their premiere, maybe it's not a bad thing. I'm starting to question why I need to see it on opening weekend anyway. The theater is crowded and with all the other B movies playing I can just see something else and wait, while I save money using the card. I don't know how many of their subscribers will think this way but only they have the data to know this.
I understand many were pissed and cancelled their service but that was mainly due to the problems we had from the app and card not being able to be used. The outages they experienced because of the card processor not being paid was the worst part of my experience so far. Not being able to see a movie on opening weekend was annoying but it wasn't a deal breaker. Going to the theater on a night out and finding that my card didn't work for any movie whatsoever was what really got people upset. Surge pricing was deceptive to me at first and I felt betrayed by their initial promise of a "free" movie a day but now that the dust has settled I am ok with that too. Again, it boils down to if me paying an extra $4 is still a bargain? That really depends on how many movies I see and at what times. If you only see 3 movies a month then surge will not seem like a deal to you.
Is Trinity correct in saying that this model is the future and will be here to stay? I think they are in the fact that Moviepass has already changed the way big theater chains do business. AMC as an example came out with their own plan and now they have hundreds of thousands of people using it. They aren't going to do away with that plan and risk losing any loyalty so because of Moviepass, they changed the way they do business. If other big chains want to keep up, they will now have to start offering better plans to try to get that business from AMC and Moviepass. Regal and others aren't going to want to lose out to these new subscription models. It's a matter of time before they roll out better plans themselves or sign on board with a company like HMNY to use their already existing resources. In other words, Trinity is partially right in that the landscape of how we see a movie has already been changed by Moviepass.
From $12 a month binge watching massive content services like Netflix to $5 footlong subs and the $2 menu at Mcdonalds. The population has shown they will frequent a business that offers them a deal that sometimes seems too good to be true. Wanna watch a lot of movies and not have to pay too much for a ticket, then get this Moviepass or AMC club deal. Wanna eat a huge footlong sub piled up with all the veggies or condiments you desire, then try the $5 footlong of the day at Subway. Wanna double bacon cheeseburger or a sausage mcmuffin then come to Mickey D's where it's only $2 all day long.
I think it's here to stay as well and people will demand more and more from theater chains or look for which ones are offering the latest and best deal on a multiple movie package or the best discounts.
What does that really mean to HMNY and their company? I think it means their data could actually be more valuable than most of us think. That being said I do now wonder if there are other companies waiting in the wind to swoop in and scoop them up at this basement stock price.
Many companies are sitting on billions in excess cash in this economy and it would be nothing for them to step in at the last minute and grab this company for the data they have accumulated alone. Not to mention if they might have ideas on how to tweak the model for their own purposes.
Time will tell if I'm wrong but with Trinity putting this spotlight out, it may give some other companies the push to act soon as the stock is at an all time basement price and they will want to move in while HMNY still has a decent subscriber base. Not wait till they fold and lose those subscribers
Just my mad ramblings, take it with a grain of salt......
