Low morale, staff firings, and new pricing plans coming: Inside the walls of MoviePass (HMNY)

MoviePass

MoviePass fired three staff members on Friday, including two who made up the entirety of its human resources staff, a source at the company told Business Insider.
MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe has not been on all-hands calls in two months, according to the source, who believes this is a sign of his lack of involvement in the day-to-day operations of the business.
"Mitch has been and continues to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the company," MoviePass told Business Insider in a statement.
The company is planning to unveil a three-tier pricing plan, with the most expensive being similar to AMC Theatres' subscription plan, AMC Stubs A-List.

On Thursday MoviePass' parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics, disclosed it lost $130 million last quarter, and suffered a "significant decline" in MoviePass subscribers.

The following morning, MoviePass staff came to work to a startling discovery. MoviePass' two-person HR department had been fired, a source at the company told Business Insider.

Now some at MoviePass are wondering if they could be next on the chopping block, according to the source.

To top it all off, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe has been hard to find, according to the source.

Lowe has not been on an all-hands call in two months, which the source said was a sign of his lack of involvement in the day-to-day operations of the company. Some of Lowe's duties, including running the all-hands, are being done by Khalid Itum, MoviePass' VP of Business Development.

"Mitch has been and continues to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the company," MoviePass told Business Insider in a statement.

Shortly after Business Insider called MoviePass for comment, another all hands was called to inform staff of a forthcoming story, according to the source.

On a call Monday, Itum told the staff the company was "not going anywhere." In fact, MoviePass plans to make a big splash soon by unveiling a three-tier pricing plan for subscribers, the company source said.

This would include the current pricing level of $9.95 for three titles per month as the bottom-tier option, and a top-tier price that would be similar to what AMC is offering with its AMC Stubs A-List, at $19.95 a month for three movies per week.

"We have been listening closely to our subscribers," MoviePass also told Business Insider in a statement. "While we can't share specifics at the moment, we're looking forward to releasing our new programs intended to maximize positive member experience."

The last official subscriber count the public got from MoviePass was when it crossed three million subscribers in June. The company source told Business Insider that tens of thousands of subscribers canceled in October.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How 'The Price Is Right' is made