Linux automatic email

By "hanging" it is probably waiting for the body of the message as input on stdin.

echo "This is the message body" mail -s "This is the Subject" recipient@company.comor

using HERE i/o redirection:

mail -s "This is the Subject" recipient@company.com <<-END
This is the message body.
It can easily accommodate several lines.
and ${substitutions} work in the here-document.
END