(Bloomberg) — Adam Aron, chief executive officer of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., sold another $9.65 million in shares of the meme-driven theater stock, following sales that he had said were prudent for estate planning.
Aron, who has led the struggling company since 2016, sold 312,500 shares on Dec. 7, according to a regulatory filing Thursday after markets closed. That followed recent sales of more than $25 million.
Corporate executives routinely sell stock they get as compensation. But Aron has publicly wooed retail investors and touted AMC’s future prospects while selling the stock and benefiting from a mammoth rally in the shares.
Aron reported continuing to own 95,997 shares, according to the filing, or a total of about 3 million shares including stock subject to continued service or targets. The company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
AMC executives and board members have unloaded more than $70 million in shares this year in a flurry of sales that coincided with the surge in the stock. Forced to shut down during 2020 because of Covid-19, the chain is headed toward its third straight year of losses.
A frequent Twitter user who has embraced AMC’s popularity with retail investors, Aron has defended the preplanned stock sales. He has pointed out that he still owns millions of units of stock in the company, which are mostly in the form of equity grants, as well as performance-based awards.
AMC shares fell 8.9% to $29.46 in New York. The stock has gained nearly 14-fold this year.
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