Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
MoviePass.
- The 3-person business development team at MoviePass was laid off on Thursday, multiple sources told Business Insider.
- This is the latest in a string of departures at the company, as several employees, including some on the management level, have resigned or been let go in the last month.
- The current salaried staff is around 50 people.
The business development team at MoviePass was laid off on Thursday, multiple sources familiar with the decision told Business Insider.
The loss of the LA-based, 3-person team - who were given the news by MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe - is the latest in a string of departures at the movie-ticket subscription company. In the last month, several employees, including some on the management level, have resigned or been let go, the sources told Business Insider. The salaried staff currently is around 50 people (at the end of 2018, there were around 60).
These layoffs came on the heels of MoviePass' parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), being kicked off the Nasdaq earlier this month. It had failed to meet the Nasdaq's listing standards by trading under $1 per share since July. The stock price had crashed as HMNY sold new shares to offset hundreds of millions in losses.
Read more: MoviePass has been hit with a lawsuit from subscribers alleging it's a "bait and switch" scheme
At the time of the delisting, HMNY said in a statement that the "delisting has no effect on the day-to-day business operations of HMNY or its subsidiaries, including MoviePass and MoviePass Films."
But the continued layoffs and departures tell a different story.
Employee morale has been low for months. Product manager Eric Jeng sent a scathing letter to the entire staff when he resigned in January, blasting management, particularly for how they responded to Business Insider's reporting on MoviePass employee allegations of inappropriate conduct by a contractor.
MoviePass did not respond to a request for comment.