Moshe "Mooky" Joseph Greidinger (born December 1952) is an Israeli businessman and the chief executive officer (CEO) of

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...

, the world's second largest cinema chain. Together with his brother Israel, they own 29% of the company. He was previously CEO of

Cinema City International Cinema City International N.V. is the largest cinema operator in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Israel and the third largest cinema operator in all of Europe. The Company operates 99 multiplexes with a total of 966 screens. In the C ...

, originally founded by his grandfather. His family has had interests in the cinema business since the 1930s.

Early life, family and education

Moshe Joseph Greidinger, known as "Mooky", was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

to Dahlia Greidinger née Katzenelbogen-Katz (1926–1979), a scientist who helped develop the country's chemical industry, and Kalman Kenneth "Kenny" Greidinger, whose father Moshe Greidinger and mother Rebecca Chissick Greidinger had emigrated from Romania and had business interests in food, shipping, and real estate. Mooky has a brother, Israel, who works alongside him. Greidenger studied economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

Career

Greidenger’s paternal grandfather Moshe Greidinger invested in his first cinema, Ein Dor, in Hadar,

, in 1930. He opened the Armon cinema in Haifa in 1935. After his death in 1946, his son Kenny expanded the cinema business. Young Mooky worked at the ticket desk, in the projection room, and as an usher in his father's cinemas throughout his school years. He joined his father's business in 1976, and encouraged the company—now called

—to expand overseas with a location in Hungary in 1997. In May 2014, Greidinger joined the board of directors of

as CEO, having previously been CEO of Cinema City International. Cinema City International was Europe's third largest cinema operator until its takeover by Cineworld in 2014. Following the takeover, Cinema City owned 24.9% of the combined Cineworld group. In 2017, Cineworld announced its agreement to acquire

Regal Entertainment Group Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens i ...

for $3.6 billion, giving it more than 9,500 screens in 10 countries. In 2020, Cineworld was due to buy Canada's Cineplex Entertainment for US$2.1 billion, making it the world's largest cinema chain (ahead of

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

) with over 11,000 screens. However, on 12 June 2020, Cineworld abandoned the takeover before the end of June deadline, citing "certain breaches" of contract, and a legal battle is likely. In July Cineworld sued Cineplex for $1.1 billion in damages; Cineplex planned to counter-sue for around $12 million. As of January 2020, Greidinger and his brother Israel Greidinger, who is deputy CEO of the company, own 29% of Cineworld. According to a ''

Globes A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe of ...

'' article of January 2020, "Those who know the Greidingers say they are not so much consumed with making money as becoming the world's number one cinema chain". In March of 2020, at the beginning of the

covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the attendance at the theaters decreased dramatically, and many were forced to be closed. This resulted in a major drop in

business, and in September 2022 it applied for

bankruptcy protection Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

at a US court.

Personal life

Greidinger resides in Haifa, Israel. His son Idan has a management position in the company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greidinger, Mooky Hebrew Reali School alumni Israeli Jews Israeli chief executives People from Haifa Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni Living people 1952 births Israeli businesspeople Business executives Entertainment industry businesspeople