LEAWOOD, Kan – (BUSINESS WIRE) – AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theater operator, today announced that its largest shareholder to date, the Wanda Group, has sold most of its remaining shares in the movie company this week. The shares were all sold under normal open market trading to a wide range of buyers on the New York Stock Exchange.

Wanda acquired 100% of AMC in 2012 and floated the company on an IPO in 2013 while retaining the majority of AMC’s outstanding shares.

At last count, AMC had more than 3 million individual shareholders, with no entity holding a stake greater than 10%.

Commenting on this development, AMC CEO and President Adam Aron said, “Wanda has been a formidable AMC shareholder for almost a decade. Under their ownership, AMC has grown into the world’s largest movie theater operator. Importantly, Wanda has also supported our reinvestment of billions of dollars to modernize and improve our theater network for the benefit of moviegoers across the United States, Europe and the Middle East. I salute Wanda for the extremely constructive role they played in building our business and I would like to express my sincere appreciation and affection for their wise counsel and friendship.

The United States, Europe and China are the three largest film markets in the world. Wanda Film Group has the largest cinema circuit in China, with additional theaters across Australia, and also makes Chinese-language films. AMC is the largest movie theater circuit in the United States and the largest movie theater circuit in Europe, with additional theaters in the Middle East. Even after the sale of shares, Wanda Film Group and AMC will enter into a long-term strategy and cooperation agreement, which will facilitate efficiency through global buying efforts and sharing of best practices. Some of the films made by Wanda will also be screened in select AMC theaters. This continued communication between the two companies is expected to create a win-win situation for both Wanda Film Group and AMC in the film and film industries.

Pursuant to the sale of most of their remaining AMC shares, Lincoln Zhang and John Zeng expect to step down from their seats on the AMC board of directors within the next thirty days.

About AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.

AMC is the largest film exhibition company in the United States, the largest in Europe and the largest in the world with approximately 950 theaters and 10,500 screens worldwide. AMC has propelled innovation in the exhibition industry by: deploying its Signature power reclining seats; provide improved food and drink choices; drive greater customer engagement through its loyalty and membership programs, website and mobile apps; offering premium wide-format experiences and showing a wide variety of content, including the latest Hollywood releases and independent programming. For more information, visit www.amctheatres.com.

Category: Company release