Missing the movie magic... AMC is desperate for a happy ending. The world’s largest movie theater chain lost nearly $1B last quarter. Sales plunged 91% from last year as theaters were shut for most of the quarter. Now 80% of its US theaters are open, but limited capacity and blockbuster delays are choking sales. The cash-starved chain is looking to raise up to $50M by selling 20M shares to stave off bankruptcy. Happy ending = survival.
Surprise squashing... Chinese fintech giant Ant Group was supposed to go public last week in the world's biggest IPO. Its mega-app Alipay has over 1B users and offers every money-related service imaginable. Problem? Ant's founder Jack Ma made a (poorly-timed) speech criticizing China for stifling innovation. Chinese regulators squashed the historic IPO just two days before it was scheduled. Ma's other company Alibaba — aka: the "Amazon of China" — owns 33% of Ant, so the stock dropped on the news.