Apes, our saga is gettin' juicier than Minute Maid! Who's thirsty?
I hope that you enjoy my educational "AMC Timeline." My goal is to research, compile, maintain, and clearly explain the chronology of events in recent AMC stock history in order to:
- provide a permanent, sharable point of historical reference for "all things AMC stock";
- educate new and veteran apes alike on exactly how AMC got to this point;
- show why/when/how shorts and hedge funds are getting increasingly desperate;
- prove that all happenings along the way thus far are squarely in apes' favor, slowly contributing to—and virtually guaranteeing—the moon landing;
- give existing AMC apes the confidence to buy and hodl more AMC bananas;
- give potential AMC apes the confidence to become first-time investors in AMC bananas . . . and hodl them sumbiches with kung-fu gorilla grip!
Learn, enjoy, and—most importantly—spread the "Word of Grodd" that AMC stock is awesome! Informing and educating new investors is the best way to thank me!
-- AMCGrodd
NOTES:
- If you follow me on Reddit (u/Few_Campaign8623), you'll get an alert every time I post an updated timeline (which is roughly every 2 days).
- If you think that something is missing from the timeline, please send me a message in Reddit. I'll gladly consider the addition and add it, if appropriate. Thank you.
- Apes, whenever you post news, quotes, or data, please do the community—and, by extension, yourself—a massive favor by always including a link to your source. This necessary practice will become increasingly critical as we approach—and find ourselves immersed in—the squeeze. Time that we waste having to search for and verify each other's sources can cost you/us a great deal of money and a lifetime of regret.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not a financial advisor! Nothing in this personal reflection constitutes—or is intended to be—financial advice. I only have 3 teeth. You must always conduct your own due diligence before engaging in any financial activities.
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1920–2019
1920:
Maurice, Edward, and Barney Dubinsky purchase the Regent Theatre in Kansas City, Mo.
1961:
Stanley Durwood becomes CEO of the company and renames it American Multi-cinema.
1962:
Opens the world's first multiplex, the Parkway Twin in Kansas City.
1981:
Becomes the first theatre chain to add cupholder armrests.
1991:
Introduces Clip®, a "film strip" character to serve as an ambassador of the brand and its Silence is Golden® program.
1995:
Opens the world's first megaplex. This innovative destination also inspires AMC to install stadium seating and LoveSeat®-style seating.
2000:
Co-founds online ticket services to add convenience to even the busiest AMC theatres like Empire 25 in New York City, which is recognized as the busiest theatre in the world.
2002:
Becomes the first theatre chain to introduce the circuit-wide gift card.
2005:
Co-founds National CineMedia (NCMI), which runs all of AMC's pre-show entertainment and in-theatre advertising.
2006:
Expands presence throughout the country with the acquisition of Loews Theatres
2007:
Partners with IMAX to bring approximately 125 IMAX large-screen digital projection systems to AMC locations around the country.
2008:
Launches Dine-In Theatres. The concept, which continues to expand throughout the United States, allows guests to order restaurant-style food with the push of a button, from the comfort of their own luxurious movie seat.
2009:
- Partners with Sony and RealD to implement digital and 3D technology.
- Partners with the Autism Society to launch AMC Sensory Friendly Films nationwide. The program allows children and families to enjoy a movie in a safe, accepting environment that allows talking, yelling, singing and walking around.
- Opens its first all-recliner seating theatre, AMC Lakewood 12, dubbed "The Miracle of Lakewood."
2010:
Acquires Kerasotes theatres and expands its presence in the Midwest.
2011:
Launches its AMC Stubs rewards program, which provides members with new benefits like concessions upgrades and dollars back for every dollar they spend.
2012:
Acquired by the Beijing–based Wanda Group, which enables funding to ensure a massive escalation of AMC's world-class amenities, including recliner seating, better sight & sound presentation and MacGuffins bars.
2013:
Goes public on the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE: AMC
2015:
- AMC and Dolby partner to create Dolby Cinema at AMC, a premium large format experience that includes Dolby Vision laser projection, Dolby Atmos sound and AMC's comfortable power recliners.
- Acquires Starplex Cinemas.
2016:
- Becomes the largest theater/cinema chain in the world by acquiring Carmike Cinemas and Odeon & UCI Cinemas (the largest theatre chain in the UK & Ireland). AMC most recently reported roughly 953 theaters and 10,700 screens.
- Adds a free tier to its AMC Stubs program—AMC Insider—to go along with its popular paid tier, AMC Premiere.
- First-year CEO Adam Aron went on quite a hiring spree in 2016!
December 11, 2017:
Signs "Memorandum of Understanding" to build theaters in Saudi Arabia, "hours after the Middle Eastern kingdom announced it will allow cinemas for the first time in 35 years."
June 20, 2018:
Launches AMC Stubs A-List monthly subscription service to counter the immensely popular—yet now defunct—MoviePass (HMNY).
May 23, 2019:
Acquires Cinetopia movie theaters
September 8, 2019:
Announces that select AMC theaters will air out-of-market, Sunday NFL games
October 14, 2019:
Launches "AMC Theaters On Demand," which offers approximately 2,000 films for sale or rent after their theatrical runs, just as iTunes, Amazon, and other video-on-demand retailers do.
November 7, 2019:
AMC CEO Adam Aron addresses short-selling attacks on AMC
2020–Present
March 18, 2020:
Due to COVID-19, Adam Aron announces the closure of all AMC theaters nationwide. The resulting loss of income would be so extreme that the company was "a couple of weeks away" from bankruptcy multiple times before the squeeze on Jan. 27, 2021 (per Adam Aron in his April 14, 2021 interview with Trey's Trades). To this day, AMC has never received a penny in government assistance/bailouts (CARES Act, PPP loans, etc.). Despite that stark disadvantage, AMC has still managed to pay its employees and bills. Bravo!
December 17, 2020:
SEC states that Robinhood misled its customers about how it was paid by Wall Street firms to pass along customers' trading data and profited at customers' expense. Robinhood pays $65 million fine.
January 26:
AMC secures $917 million in new capital to avoid bankruptcy through at least the end of 2021, the breaking news of which was the catalyst for the squeeze the following day.
January 27:
1- First AMC squeeze. The stock price jumped 310% overnight, from $4.96 at the close on January 26 to $20.34 at the open on January 27. (The price briefly reached almost $25 in pre-market on January 27.)
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- Robinhood screwed apes by restricting apes' ability to buy shares of AMC. Only selling was allowed, which directly benefited hedge funds by tanking the share price. That is arguably the main reason why Vlad was dragged before the House to testify. Robinhood also implemented a 100% margin requirement for equity in AMC and GME.
January 28:
1- Robinhood blocks apes from buying shares of AMC, GME, and other stocks
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- Robinhood (followed by other lemming brokers) institutes stricter, 100% margin collateral requirements
February 1:
In a Form 8-K dated Feb. 1, AMC's largest stakeholder (Wanda America Entertainment Inc.) capitalized on the mini squeeze on Jan 27 by converting its Class B shares (with 3 votes each) to Class A shares so that it could "cash out."
February 18:
Robinhood CEO (Vlad Tenev) testifies about Robinhood's Jan 27-28 fuckery against AMC and GME apes during a House Financial Services Committee hearing
February 26:
In a ridiculously intense, back-and-forth battle between apes and HF turds that literally wasn't decided until the finals seconds of trading, Apes emerged victorious by securing a closing price of $8.01 after rallying from $7.90 within only 4 minutes remaining. Finishing the day above $8.00 was very significant because it forced shorts and hedge fund pantywaists to have to purchase hundreds of thousands of shares via options contracts. The figure of "$8.01" has since become a rallying cry for the AMC ape movement.
March 3:
1- Per AMC's proxy statement, ". . . 63,096,124 shares (including 3,732,625 treasury shares) of the total number of shares of Common Stock currently authorized remain available for issuance or may be reserved for issuance prior to any amendment to increase the authorized shares of Common Stock."
(Ape Translation: Adam Aron clarified in his April 14, 2021 interview with Trey's Trades that 20 million of those 63 million shares are accounted for. Still, that leaves AMC with 43M already-approved shares available to introduce to the market WITHOUT apes' permission. So, if apes approve the 500M new shares, that will make Aron much more inclined to actually use those 43M already-approved shares that are CURRENTLY the only bullets in his holster. Just because he vowed to not use any of the 500M new shares in 2021 doesn't mean he won't use any of the 43M. In fact, getting the 500M new shares gives Aron much more freedom and ability to dilute with those 43M already-approved shares. That's why my vote is "NO." After we moon, Aron can dilute to his heart's content, and at a much higher price per share, too!)
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- AMC has $1 billion in cash on its book as of March, 2021.
March 7:
SEC requests public comments (until April 8) on proposed Rule NSCC-2021-801 (i.e., "the straw that will break the hedge funds' backs")
March 16:
SEC approves Rule DTC-2021-003
March 26:
"Big Banks" force hedge fund Archegos to liquidate $20 billion in assets (most notably, shares/swaps of Discovery Channel and ViacomCBS, which caused the PPS of each stock to plummet)
March 29:
SEC approves the following rules:
- FICC-2021-002
- DTC-2021-004
- NSCC-2021-004
March 30:
Susquehanna International Group, LLP ("SIG") and Richard J. McDonald formally oppose the OCC's new "Skin-in-the-Game" rule (OCC-2021-0003)
April 1:
Heath Tarbert (Ex-Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) joins Citadel Securitiesas "Chief Legal Officer" only 27 days after leaving the CFTC
"[It's] the latest in a long list of hires [away] from US regulators by [Citadel CEO, Ken] Griffin."
April 4:
"Godzilla v. Kong" sets pandemic and pre-pandemic records, disproving shorts' FUD that "people will never go to AMC theaters again"
April 5:
"B. Riley Financial" upgrades AMC and raises price target from $7 to $13
April 6:
Trey gets death threats
April 7:
1- SEC approves "Skin-in-the-Game" rule (OCC-2021-801)
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- Trey's Trades interview with Jordan Belfort
(Let's just pretend that it never happened, OK? Link intentionally excluded.)
April 8:
1- New SEC filing confirms plaintiffs' assertion that over 30 brokerages, trading firms, and/or clearing firms "including Morgan Stanley, E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab, Robinhood, Barclays, Citadel and DTCC engaged in a coordinated conspiracy in violation of anti-trust laws to prevent retail customers from operating and trading freely in a conspiracy to allow certain of the other defendants, primarily hedge funds, to stop losing money on short sale positions in GameStop, AMC and certain other securities."
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- Matt Kohrs gets banned by Youtube
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- SEC warns SPACs to cut the dirty shit
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- SEC's Chief of the Office of the Whistleblower, Jane Norberg, to Leave Agency
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- Last day to submit your comments to the SEC in support of the approval of Rule NSCC-2021-801! Rule NSCC-2021-801 is the proverbial "nail in the coffin" that reeeeeeeeeeeally has the hedge funders shitting their fancy little britches. A decision will be imminent after April 8. The SEC is currently deliberating whether to approve this SUPER CRITICAL Rule SR-NSCC-2021-801, which would allow the NSCC to assess the risk of members (i.e., hedge funds) on a daily basis and also demand a higher Secondary Liquidity Deposit (SLD) on a daily basis if a member risks defaulting. If approved, this rule will force hedge funds and market makers to pay more if they are "playing too risky." It will also allow the DTCC to liquidate a member’s positions if those positions jeopardize the NSCC’s ability to complete that day’s trades. Furthermore, the arguably most important aspect of Rule NSCC-2021-801 is that hedge funds would no longer be able to take advantage of an inexplicable lack of scrutiny to hide naked shorting, FTD shares, dark pool trades, ladder attacks, trading amongst themselves to artificially lower the price per share, etc. They will no longer have 30 days to "get their affairs in order," either. Transparency could be our newest and greatest weapon!
April 9:
Melvin Capital hedge fund announces amusingly catastrophic losses of 49% and billions of dollars in the first quarter of 2021
April 10:
Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) begins its "convenient," unsustainable pump in what many argue is a calculated effort by hedge funds to fool apes into dumping AMC shares.
April 12:
"Better Markets" files an amicus brief (lawsuit) against Citadel to prevent Citadel from succeeding in stopping the SEC's plan to implement a new type of order ("Delimit Order") developed by IEX. This new "delimit order" would essentially prevent Citadel and other hedge funds from engaging in high-frequency trading and stock price manipulation via the use of sophisticated equipment and non-public information that give them a huge, unfair advantage over retail investors in the marketplace.
April 13:
1- Arclight and Pacific Theatres permanently closing in California, boosting AMC's future business and value
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- Hedge funds start to "spoof" shares:
April 14:
1- Gary Gensler, notorious supporter of "the little guy," confirmed 53-45 by Senate to lead the SEC as Wall Street’s top regulator; plans to investigate SPACs and market manipulation by hedge funds (particularly in relation to Gamestop and AMC)
"The GameStop saga has led congressional Democrats to ask the SEC to reexamine the practice of payment for order flow, whereby stock brokers are paid to direct customer orders to market makers, as well as features in trading apps that critics say exemplify the use of so-called gamification techniques to encourage harmful overuse of those apps by retail investors. . . . The blowup of Archegos, meanwhile, could encourage Gensler to propose new rules for institutional investors that require the disclosure of short positions in stocks as well as derivative positions that mimic stock ownership."
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- Adam Aron interview with Trey's Trades!
Notable Adam Aron quotes from the interview, in sequential order:
- "I am in this for the long haul [as CEO], 5-10 more years."
- "I am a fellow shareholder."
- "Long-term, I am a bull. I own over 3,000,000 shares of AMC stock."
- "I want to continue growing the company each year moving forward."
- "Our main goal is to increase shareholder value."
- "Our company is under attack by short sellers."
- "I haven't sold a single share in 5 years, and don't plan to. I am a believer in this company."
- "The last time we authorized 500,000,000 shares, we didn't use any shares [32,000,000] until 3.5 years later! We didn't use shares again [300,000,000] until 3.5 years after that! Each time, AMC's stock price rose 200%-300%."
- "Flooding the market with 500,000,000 shares would be crazy and foolish."
- "If AMC shareholders authorize the 500,000,000 shares, we will pledge in writing that we will not issue a single share in calendar year 2021!"
- "I'm tired of playing defense. I want to play offense."
- "We would only use shares to acquire other theater chains to instantly increase value for shareholders. Or to buy back debt at a significant discount to increase value. Or to entice landlords to accept stock NOW (at a discount) instead of waiting on cash over the course of 24-36 months."
- "If you don't vote at all, your vote will be counted as a "No" by default.
- "You own AMC. This is YOUR company!"
- "I will give you one prediction: 50 years from now, analysts will be claiming that XYZ is going to put AMC out of business. Why [will AMC still be here]? Because there is something magical about going to the movie theater! . . . Watching at home just doesn't have the same impact."
- "Going to the movie theater is a cheap date. The average movie ticket in the U.S. is about $10. Where else can you go to be entertained for 2-3 hours for only $10? You can't!"
- "In 2019, the movie theater industry sold 7 times as many tickets as the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS combined!"
- "I think that AMC's best days are still to come."
- "I say to those people who are betting against us: I don't think it's a good idea to bet against movie theaters. It's certainly not a good idea to bet against AMC. And I'd like to think that it's not a good idea to bet against Adam Aron, either."
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- 2,709,393 FTD shares!
April 15:
J.P. Morgan sells a record $13 billion in bonds to raise cash
April 16:
1- SEC approves the following rules:
- FICC-2021-001
- DTC-2021-002
- NSCC-2021-003
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- Goldman Sachs sells $6 billion in bonds to raise cash
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- Bank of America breaks J.P. Morgan's 1-day-old record of $13 billion by borrowing $15 billion through the sale of its own bonds.
April 17:
1- Gary Gensler sworn in as SEC Chairman, where he will serve as Joe Biden's enforcer, the "top cop on Wall Street." It’s very telling that he was quickly sworn in on a Saturday, which had not happened since 1973 (recession) and 2008 (recession) in order to address fraud. This is a clear indication that Biden and the SEC are preparing to take similar, emergency action against fraudulent actors and market manipulators.
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- Bitcoin dropped 15%, as institutions are likely selling Bitcoin to raise the massive collateral that they now require—starting on April 22—to fully insure their lenders, including apes. (See "April 22" below.)
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- Is somebody in a hurry? LMAO! Lights in Citadel's corporate building suggest that employees worked feverishly at all hours throughout the weekend, including Sunday. Hmmm . . . . Desperate much? The stock market was closed, but guess what was open for trading: Bitcoin. I suppose that it could be a total coincidence that Bitcoin dropped 15% on Saturday, but I doubt it. The more likely scenario is that Citadel and other hedge funds caused Bitcoin to plummet by selling Bitcoin to raise a small portion of the collateral that they will need to at least partially insure the lent/borrowed synthetic shares that they overleveraged, as required on or before April 22. (See "April 22" below.)
April 19:
1- Morgan Stanley sells $6 billion in unsecured bonds to raise cash.
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- Infinity Q liquidates its hedge fund amid ramped-up U.S. regulatory probe into hedge fund valuation practices
April 20:
1- Date by which the share count—which will expose the number of synthetic shares—must be completed, which is 14 days before the shareholder meeting on May 4.
(HUGE NEWS: After the audit finished on Tuesday, April 20, there were suddenly zero [0] shares available to short, which remained the case for the next 8 days! That is NOT a coincidence. Did the recount uncover an insane number of synthetic shares? Seems likely. That would obviously disallow additional share lending, which is exactly what we saw.)
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- DTC-2021-007 proposed
". . . market transparency to accurately determine the number of shares loaned, identify proper share ownership, and calculate the risk associated with share loans (all of which is currently self-reported) to prevent over-leveraging in the future."
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- AMC is buying movie theaters again!
A cash-strapped company does not buy more brick-and-mortar stores. Methinks Aron knows that AMC will be coming into a shit-ton of money very soon (or already has).
April 21:
1- AMC reaches all-time high in short interest at 23.5%
(Keep in mind that the short interest was only 11% before AMC's first squeeze on January 27! Plus, there are far more apes now.)
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- AMC reaches all-time record highs of 152,000,000 shares on loan, 100% utilization, and 26.7% borrow fee
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- Shredding trucks appear outside of Citadel headquarters
"Iron Mountain: Secure Destruction Your Can Trust"
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- Charles Schwab raises margin requirement for shorting AMC to 300%!
April 22:
HUGE!
Rule 15c3-3(b)(3) goes into effect. It "requires broker-dealers entering into agreements with their customers (e.g., apes) who lend the broker-dealers fully-paid or excess margin securities to provide the securities lenders (e.g., apes) with collateral that fully secures the loans."
(Apish: "Nope, you're no longer free to engage in your usual fuckery. Rule 008 is pending. In the meantime, you overleveraged bastards must now have the cash or collateral ON-HAND to fully cover every share that you borrow/lend, including unrealized losses! And, if you fuckers need to borrow more each day, you must also sufficiently increase your cash-on-hand and collateral to be able to FULLY COVER each day. Yeah, it's not yet an official law or regulation, but we're watching you. Rest assured that we will F you down the line if you cross us while Rule 008 is pending.")
April 23:
1- Following the share count on April 20, Hedge funds have 3 business days (until April 28) to eliminate (i.e., purchase) ALL newly-identified synthetic shares that they created/shorted, or those synthetic shares become "FTD" (failed to deliver). We don't know if the hedge funds will immediately cover or if they will decide to eat daily fines ***and*** increasingly higher interest rates. What we ***DO*** know is that hedge funds can't/won't eat massive interest forever, especially as the share price continues to rise and hedge funds' underlying banks threaten to force-liquidate the hedge funds' assets. Hodling, on the other hand, is 100% free . . . free FREE free.
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-
Notable movies (average of 3.83 per month) releasing in AMC theaters from April 23, 2021 through April, 2022 (in order of premier date):
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Demon Slayer (Apr 23)
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Mortal Kombat (Apr 23)
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Cruella (May 28)
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A Quiet Place, Part II (May 28)
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Conjuring (June 4)
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Samaritan (June 4)
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Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (June 16)
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Peter Rabbit 2 (June 18)
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Fast & Furious 9 (June 25)
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Forever Purge (July 2)
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Black Widow (July 7)
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Cinderella (July 16)
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Space Jam 2 (July 16)
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Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (July 23)
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Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (July 23)
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The Green Knight (July 30)
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Jungle Cruise (July 30)
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Suicide Squad (Aug 6)
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Paw Patrol (Aug 20)
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Candyman (Aug 27)
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Sep 3)
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Infinite (Sep 24)
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Sopranos: The Many Saints of Newark (Sep 24)
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Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage (Sep 24)
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Dune (Oct 1)
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Halloween Kills (Oct 15)
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The Last Duel (Oct 15)
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James Bond: No Time to Die (Oct 21)
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Eternals (Nov 5)
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Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Nov 11)
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Top Gun: Maverick (Nov 19)
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Resident Evil (Nov 24)
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Nightmare Alley (Dec 3)
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West Side Story (Dec 10)
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Spider-Man: No Way Home (Dec 17)
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The King's Man (Dec 22)
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The Matrix 4 (Dec 22)
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Sherlock Holmes 3 (Dec 22)
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Sing 2 (Dec 22)
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Wicked (Dec 22)
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Scream (Jan 14)
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Uncharted (Feb 18)
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The Batman (Mar 4)
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Morbius (Mar 19)
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Doctor Strange 2 (Mar 25)
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Apr 8)
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- ETF shares available to short suddenly dropped off a cliff from 3,800,000 to only 10,940! (Read why in April 20 entry above.)
For April 24 and beyond, click here to view the permanent, always-updating Google Doc.
