AMC Entertainment said chairman and CEO Adam Aron suffered a minor stroke while on a business trip in the U.K., but that he remains “at the helm” and expects a “speedy and full recovery.”
The company on Thursday disclosed that while on a recent London business trip related to the international movie theater activities of AMC, Aron, 71, suffered a minor stroke on Nov. 17. He “immediately received state-of-the-art emergency medical care” at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurological Sciences public hospital in London and received a “timely injection of clot-busting thrombolytic medication, staying overnight at the hospital for two nights.”
Per AMC, “there are no indications of loss of cognitive brain function related to Mr. Aron’s ability to process complex information, his memory or his written communications, which are all normal and undiminished.” The company said that his only “meaningful limitation” was an initial slurring of his speech but that Aron has already seen a “remarkable recovery in the quality and tenor of his voice. He expects to make a speedy and full recovery.”
The theater chain’s statement continued: “Given his mental acuity and physical resilience, Mr. Aron remains in full command at the helm of AMC and continues to perform his duties as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. He has kept in close and constant communication with the Board of Directors of AMC, with respect both to the prognosis for his recovery as well as the general business affairs of the Company.”
According to AMC, Aron remained in London before flying on commercial flights back to the U.S. this past weekend to attend Monday’s Los Angeles world premiere of James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Following the premiere, on Dec. 3, Aron returned to his personal residence and AMC’s headquarters location in metropolitan Kansas City. “As has been the case since his brief hospital stay, he continues to work on a full-time basis,” the company said.
Aron said in a statement provided by the company: “I so much want to thank the immensely skilled and caring staff of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurological Sciences. In thinking more broadly about what transpired of late, I am a poster child for listening to one’s own body, and immediately seeking emergency medical care at the very first signs of any potentially serious abnormality. I urge any and all not to delay should warning signs ever arise. For those alert enough to obtain such care quickly, the incredibly devoted men and women in emergency rooms the world over save lives every single day.”
Aron and AMC “thought it wisest to issue this fulsome statement to proactively dispel any conjecture that might arise during any of his public or private appearances. In respect to Mr. Aron’s privacy, however, AMC does not plan to comment further on his recovery,” the company said.
AMC is the U.S.’s largest movie exhibition company (as well as the largest in Europe and the largest throughout the world) with approximately 860 theatres and 9,600 screens across the globe.
