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Adam Aron, CEO of the nation’s largest movie chain said “the industry has to get liquidity from somewhere” since “we all have expenses and none of us have revenue” after exhibitors closed their doors across the country amidst the spreading coronavirus pandemic.
“I am here as a representative of our industry. … The reality is that we need relief right now and there is a simple reason why. We have fixed costs – we are trying to lower them – but because every movie theater in the country is shut or shuttering there is no revenue coming in the door,” Aron said in an interview on CNBC. “The banking system is overwhelmed with companies seeking additional liquidity.”
The industry has asked Congress for funds to see it through the crisis. The response is not yet clear. Unfortunately, Aron’s audio appeared to malfunction when the CNBC anchor asked if he, or the industry, had heard anything from Washington, D.C. yet and what he was expecting.
“I’m here. I can’t hear you, but I’m here,” Aron said.
Earlier in the interview, he noted that AMC is making the chain’s stock of perishable food at all theaters available to its 27,000 employees nationwide, continuing to “pay them as much as we possibly can” for now, and planning to keep current health insurance plans active for the duration of the crisis.
“My focus is on making sure there s a company to come back to,” he said. “I would like to make sure that this company that been strong for 100 years in the United States, that we can reopen when the government says its safe to do so for the public.”