MacDailyNews Take: Reorganize into what?
Anderson continues, “The move, long expected and pre-arranged with bondholders, effectively ends an era that Blockbuster dominated — of Americans visiting video-store chains for the latest movie-rental releases… Blockbuster, founded in 1985 by a Dallas software entrepreneur, was once a home entertainment powerhouse. It helped popularize videotape recorders and took off in 1987 after Waste Management Inc. founder Wayne Huizenga took control and began aggressively expanding and buying up competitors.”
MacDailyNews Take: Blockbuster is the Nokia of the 1990s.
Anderson reports, “But Blockbuster has been losing money and market share for years. As Netflix and other services gained popularity, Blockbuster tried to keep up. It ended late fees and started online and kiosk services of its own. But it was unable to keep its debt in check. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn will help steer the latest efforts to save Blockbuster, reviving a role he played previously in trying to shape up the company. He has thrust himself into position of power, this time by snapping up about one-third of Blockbuster’s highest-priority debt, according to a report published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal. “Blockbuster said in its filing it had about $1 billion in assets and $1.46 billion in debt.”
MacDailyNews Take: Friends don’t let friends do physical media.
Anderson reports, “Blockbuster’s largest creditors include the Bank of New York Mellon, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video Inc., Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Co., Universal Studios Home Entertainment and other movie studios.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Blockbuster still has physical stores? Who knew? For nostalgia’s sake, we’re going to figure out where the nearest one is and get over there later to see it one last time. We imagine a lonely clerk fast asleep in a bright blue and yellow fluorescent-lit tomb. Boy, is he going to be shocked when people walk in!