Trung Phan Profile picture
Write on business with @workweekinc. Building an AI research app: @bearlyai

Jun 6, 2021, 14 tweets

0/ A Redditor digs into the career of AMC's CEO Adam Aron @CEOAdam, who has an impressive track record of turning companies around (it's also a hysterically-written business bio).

Here's the story 🧵

1/ Quick summary of 66-year old Aron's career:
◻️ Harvard BA / MBA
◻️ Marketing @ Hyatt and United Airlines
◻️ CEO, Norwegian Cruises
◻️ CEO, Vail Resorts
◻️ CEO and part-owner, Philadelphia 76ers
◻️ CEO, Starwood Hotels
◻️ CEO, AMC

2/ Early years as an exceptional student (many references to 'silverback apes'...funniest parts are *bolded*)

3/ The start of a career in 'fun' industries: Pan Am (1979-85), variety of marketing positions; Western Airlines (1985-87) as VP of Marketing; Hyatt Hotels & Resorts (1987-90) as SVP of Marketing; United Airlines (1990-93) as SVP of Marketing

4/ First-time CEO. First company in debt. President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line (1993-96):

5/ Vail Resorts as Chairman and CEO (1996-2006):

6/ Turning around 76ers attendance and striking a $12B M&A deal with Starwood Hotels (2006-2015):

7/ AMC Entertainment (2015 - present)

8/ Hilariously, the Redditor briefly changed Aron's Wikipedia profile to a more Reddit-friendly corporate profile

9/ In sum:

10/ In the recent AMC stock run, Aron has ingratiated himself with Reddit investors:
◻️ He said individual investors own 80% of AMC and he "works for them"
◻️ He donated $100k to the WSB-supported Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
◻️ Perks program (eg. free popcorn) for investors

11/ AMC is also turning its sky-high stock into cash: In June, it issued millions of shares and raised $800m+ to:

◻️ help pay down a $5B+ debt load
◻️ acquire *more* theatre assets + refurbish existing ones

(Whether this is a prudent move is entirely another question)

12/ AMC is betting that post-COVID will be boom times for theatres.

There are serious headwinds to that thesis but @CEOAdam has a track record (Norwegian, Vail, 76ers, Starwood) of corporate miracles.

At a minimum, he's def leaning into the meme:

13/ Either way, follow @TrungTPhan for more business-related gold.

Here's OP by u/TheNovaeterrae on Aron's career
reddit.com/r/amcstock/com…

Read Margins for Aron's recent moves readmargins.com/p/ape-armies-a…

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