With the company doing far worse than expected, Imax is looking for suitors to shore up its business. Last quarter the company lost $5.8 million, or 14 cents per share. Last year they lost $1.2 million or 3 cents a share during the same quarter.
Analysts thought that their losses for the quarter would be closer to 7 cents a share for the first quarter, while the company predicted closer to 10 cents a share. First-quarter sales plunged 58 percent to $9.4 million.
It is possible that Imax needs more than a partner or new owner, but a new CEO. Richard Gelfond co-CEO said that he screened "V for Vendetta," and gave the go ahead because he thought it would to great for the company. That decision itself could disqualify him from leadership.
He said "I'll accept some responsibility because I saw the film before we decided to do it, and I thought it would do very well, but the movie business is an inexact science. If I had a crystal ball I'd be a lot smarter than I am."
While no one expects everyone to be 100% right, to base your whole quarter results on a movie like "V for Vendetta" is plain irresponsible at the least.
Gelfond went on to say: "It has less to do with Imax (and) had more to do with the overall receptivity of the film."
That statement is almost meaningless. It's the films fault that we've done so poorly. No, it's your fault for picking it in the first place. In other words he's covering his butt. It has "less to do with Imax" is another meaningless phrase. If it didn't have anything to do with IMAX than what did it have to do with?
Anyway, Imax is now looking through some offers from potential buyers and partners for its business. Gelfond added that the company is more than ready to make a deal to attempt to encourage the company's growth. If I was buying it I would be pretty skeptical as most sellers or potential partners wouldn't throw out their desire so strongly as Gelfond did. It may just be in more trouble than we know.
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