Ahead of what will be a critical 2023 for the company, AMC Entertainment, the owner of the AMC Theatres chain, is shaking up its board of directors.
Lee Wittlinger, a managing director at investment firm Silver Lake, will step down from the board, with two new members set to be added: Former Sundance chief Keri Putnam, and veteran tech executive and corporate board member Dee Clark.
The company announced the board refresh Thursday afternoon.
Putnam and Clark will serve as Class III directors until the company’s 2023 annual meeting, when they will stand for election. The company notes that with the new changes, three of the chain’s nine directors will be female, up from one in eight directors previously.
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Silver Lake sold its stake in the company last year in the throes of the early “memestock” rally, netting gains of nearly $300 million for the investment firm. With Silver Lake no longer invested in AMC, it is typical for appointed board members to eventually resign.
The changes come as AMC grapples with continued challenges to its core business, with 2022 box office down 35 percent from pre-pandemic 2019, and 2023 not necessarily looking dramatically better. At the same time, the memestock rally that propelled its share price skyward last year appears to be abating.
As of market close Thursday, AMC’s share price was trading at $4.14, while its spinoff APE shares were trading at $1.47. AMC has proposed to convert APE shares into AMC shares, and do a reverse stock split, all in a bid to raise the company’s share price.
The new board members will have to help the company navigate that difficult environment.
