By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
In the earlier announcement made in August, it was said AMC will also accept payments via Apple Pay and Google Pay by year-end.
Kansas-based movie theatre company AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) will accept not only Bitcoin payments but also other cryptocurrencies for movie ticket and concession purchases.
During the publishing of its second-quarter earnings in August, the American theatre company announced it would accept bitcoin payment for online ticket and concession purchases before the end of this year.
In a tweet on Wednesday however, AMC Chief Executive Officer, Adam Aron said apart from accepting Bitcoin payments, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash will also be accepted.
During the earlier announcement in August, Aron also said AMC will also accept payments through Apple Pay and Alphabet‘s Google Pay by year-end.
Indeed, an increasing number of companies globally are accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment. A company like Microsoft began accepting payments with Bitcoin back in 2014. However, the company paused those plans as a result of the market volatility. Now, Microsoft is again accepting it for the Xbox store credits.
Many others like Overstock, Home Depot, Namecheap, Starbucks, Paypal Holdings, Square also accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to varying degrees. Even Tesla earlier in the year announced it would accept Bitcoin for payment before halting their plans after CEO Elon Musk voiced concerns about the mining effects of crypto on the environment
This may very well be a last gap measure by the company to drive sales and improve their balance sheet. Despite the meme-stock frenzy that retail investors enjoyed earlier in the year, the company has slumped by up to 15% in the last three months. The books don’t look good either.
AMC Looking at Bankruptcy
Given the decline of the theater industry ( as a result of the rise in online streaming services) and AMC’s incredibly weak balance sheet, there are suggestions that AMC can file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection within five years.
At the end of June, AMC had up to $2.023 billion in liquidity ( $1.81 billion in cash and $212 million from an undrawn revolving credit facility). This might seem like a good thing until you consider the fact that the company has only 1 million shares it can issue. Any more, and it will require shareholder approval.
When you take this alongside the unwillingness of the company’s retail investors to authorize additional shares, it will become obvious that AMC is broke. The company is out of options to raise money and it’ll have to pay back its liabilities using cash.
The decision to accept bitcoin for payment (and other cryptocurrencies) may very well be a last-gasp measure to raise revenue and forestall such a future.