MoviePass Parent Clarifies That $65 Million in Recent Funding Was Under Existing Agreements
By Todd Spangler
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Helios & Matheson Analytics, the owner of , has struggled to maintain operating capital this year — and it seemed to have good news this week when its CEO announced that it recently brought in $65 million in financing.
An article Tuesday published by The Wrap described the $65 million as “new” funding, citing comments by CEO Ted Farnsworth.
But according to an Oct. 4 regulatory filing by Helios & Matheson, that cash came via sales of its stock under an existing equity distribution agreement as well as “prepayments by investors of certain existing investor notes payable to the company.” HMNY raised the $65 million in August and September 2018.
Meanwhile, Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity has terminated its equity distribution agreement with Helios & Matheson, which had let HMNY sell the company’s shares, Helios & Matheson disclosed Thursday.
Under that agreement, Helios & Matheson was eligible to sell up to $150 million in HMNY stock; as of Sept. 30, 2018, Helios & Matheson had sold about $126 million of its common stock through Canaccord. As a result of the termination of the agreement, effective Oct. 11, “no further offers or sales of the Company’s common stock will be made pursuant to the Company’s at-the-market offering,” Helios & Matheson said in the filing.
Earlier this year, MoviePass touted that it had topped 2 million subscribers , lured by its too-good-to-be-true deal of letting users see one movie per day for just $9.95 per month. But the cash burn from paying for the theater tickets of its subs put enormous stress on Helios & Matheson’s finances, and MoviePass was forced to drastically changed its offer in August.
MoviePass now limits customers to only three movies per month for $9.95. In addition, its movie selections are “limited depending on the popularity of those films on the app that particular day,” the company told subscribers.
As of Sept. 30, 2018, the restricted principal balances of loans Helios & Matheson negotiated in November 2017 and January 2018 were $20.4 million and $29.0 million, respectively.
