CEO Adam Aron told FOX Business Network’s “The Claman Countdown” Monday that the company has asked its shareholders to approve up to 500 million shares, even though there is no intention of using them all at this time.

Aron insists he doesn’t plan to issue them all at once:

And we’ve asked our shareholders to approve up to another 500 million shares, not that we would use any amount like that any time soon. But we’re going to make sure – AMC was a very successful company for 100 years – we’re going to make sure that AMC theaters is around and is a very successful company for the next 100 years …

More here.

The thing is, AMC has only 450 million shares outstanding. This would more than double their share count, meaning every existing shareholder loses most of their ownership stake in the company. Perhaps they don’t intend to issue them all at once, but something tells me they won’t be issued over 100 years either. If you only intend to sell a few in the near term, why not authorize just that, rather than a wholesale dilution of the existing shareholders?

This comes on top of a massive dilution last year. AMC had about 100 million shares in the fall of 2020. They’re now at 450 million. And they could go to a billion at any time if this proposal goes through.

That would mean anyone who’d owned shares as of fall 2020 would’ve lost 90% of their ownership stake in the company. Granted, it’s a stronger company with the additional capital, but this level of dilution is rare.

How is the stock reacting to all this? Just fine, thank you. In fact, it’s gone up approximately 5 fold since the end of 2020, despite 80% dilution, which is headed to 90% if these additional shares are issued.

This defies all logic. I suspect the retail investors piling into AMC don’t know about the dilution or don’t know what dilution is.

As much as one would like to pull for a classic American institution like AMC, I suggest doing so by attending a movie, not buying what’s left of the stock.

For more on AMC and Wallstreetbets, check out these posts:

• AMC Stock Is Acting Like COVID Never Happened
• For AMC, The Rent Is Too Damn High
• 28% Of Americans Bought Meme Stocks in January

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Photo: “AMC Theaters” by JeepersMedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0