Former MoviePass CEO Ted Farnsworth, who gave moviegoers the best deal in moviegoing history, admitted that $9.95 for unlimited movie tickets may not have been such a great deal for his investors. A hero in some circles for providing latchkey cinephiles with a remarkable bargain, Farnsworth pleaded guilty to defrauding investors, one count of securities fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, per Gizmodo. He faces up to 25 years in prison for being the only executive in recent memory to value consumers over investors.
To be clear, he lied to investors, even as consumers knew his model was unsustainable. Farnsworth was the CEO of analytics firm Helios and Matheson, which owned a majority stake in MoviePass during its heyday. He also came up with the brilliant idea of reducing movie theater ticket costs to roughly 33 cents a day. After Helios took control, Farnsworth slashed the price of MoviePass' unlimited movies subscription from $99 a month to the low, low price of $9.95. MoviePass continued to cut prices, sending subscribers the best email they've ever received, informing them that the cost of MoviePass had been reduced to $6.95 a month. It was a boon for moviegoers, who didn't even have to watch the film. Sometimes, they could buy a ticket to The Dark Tower just so they could take a nap.
As MoviePass cardholders often remarked, the too-good-to-be-true deal was, in fact, too good to be true. The company began hemorrhaging money, raising prices, complicating purchasing, blocking subscribers from using the service, and filing for bankruptcy. Anyone who used MoviePass knew it was coming. Everyone except Ted Farnsworth, who lied to investors about revenue and sustainability and continued hatching schemes to launch a fake video-sharing platform while under federal investigation.
Still, though he did defraud investors, Farnsworth remains the rare CEO who put the customer first at the expense of his ability to serve as an officer of a publicly traded company and his freedom. In an era when consumers are regularly abused by private equity and corporate greed, it's nice to see someone stick up for the little guy and create a more equitable movie landscape. Today, every theater chain has its own version of MoviePass, and we have Farnsworth to thank.
So ends another chapter in the great MoviePass saga. In the words of a tweet that's been stuck in this writer's head for the last seven years: "With moviepass i once saw 11 movies in a single month and now because of that some rich assholes are about to lose a ton of money, what an all around great experience."
