- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
Reel change: AMC's latest bet is in... mining
AMC Entertainment unveiled Tuesday a new bet likely to prompt a double-take from investors: the movie theater chain is investing $28 million in a precious metal miner.
The theater giant, which was a darling of the so-called "meme" stock frenzy of 2021, announced the purchase of a 22 percent stake in Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation, which owns a mine in Nevada containing gold and silver deposits.
"To state the obvious, one would not normally think that a movie theatre company's core competency includes gold or silver mining," AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said in a news release.
Aron pointed to a $1.8 billion "war chest to play on offense and grow our company" courtesy of individual investors who bought shares of AMC, GameStop and some other equities last year following an investment campaign partly organized on social media.
The mining investment comes as AMC's core business has shown improvement compared with the worst days of Covid-19, but remains below its pre-pandemic level.
AMC reported a loss of $134.4 million in the most recent three-month stretch, in what the company called its "strongest quarterly result in two full years." The company lost $1.3 billion for all of 2021.
Aron said strong ticket sales of the latest Batman and Spiderman releases heighten confidence the company is "on a glide path to recovery."
"Our strategic investment being announced today is the result of our having identified a company in an unrelated industry that appears to be just like AMC of a year ago," he said.
"It, too, has rock-solid assets, but for a variety of reasons, it has been facing a severe and immediate liquidity issue. Its share price has been knocked low as a result. We are confident that our involvement can greatly help it to surmount its challenges -- to its benefit, and to ours."
Aron categorized the Hycroft investment with other new ventures including the increase of IMAX and Dolby premium screens, NFT programs and the entry into the movie popcorn business.
Shares of AMC fell 0.5 percent to $13.49 in early afternoon trading, while Hycroft surged 23.7 percent to $1.73.
H.Silva--PC