[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] It has been revealed that the management of AMC Entertainment Holdings, a major movie theater chain that surged due to the 'meme stock' craze in the U.S. stock market, sold more than 80 billion won worth of their own shares this year.
On the 22nd (local time), Bloomberg reported based on AMC Entertainment's disclosures that executives and officers, who had sold only small amounts of shares in recent years, sold more than 70 million dollars (approximately 83.2 billion won) worth this year.
In particular, Adam Aron, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), sold more than 25 million dollars (approximately 29.7 billion won) worth this month.
The meme stock craze was driven by buying pressure from individual investors gathered mainly on the U.S. online community Reddit. While those who shorted these stocks suffered huge losses, the prices of meme stocks like AMC soared to unprecedented heights.
AMC's stock price, which had struggled for years, was only in the low 2-dollar range at the beginning of this year but surged sharply in late May, and on June 2nd, it more than doubled compared to the previous day's closing price (32.04 dollars), reaching an intraday record high of 72.62 dollars.
Currently, AMC's stock price is lower than then but still fluctuates around 40 dollars.
According to CNBC, CEO Aron's assets, which were 8 million dollars (approximately 9.5 billion won) at the beginning of the year, increased by more than 200 million dollars to 220 million dollars (approximately 261.6 billion won) as of early June when the stock price surged, growing by over 200 million dollars in five months.
Bloomberg pointed out that while it is common for corporate executives to sell their shares during recent market rallies, CEO Aron openly courted retail investors and promoted AMC's future prospects while selling his shares.
Not only CEO Aron but also Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sean Goodman sold more than 8.5 million dollars (approximately 10.1 billion won), and about ten AMC executives and officers disposed of their company shares this year.
Bloomberg added that although much of this stock sale was pre-planned, AMC declined to comment on the matter.
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