Blockbuster Wants to Put Itself Up for Auction

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Blockbuster Wants to Put Itself Up for Auction

Bidding for the movie rental company will start at $290 million. At least, that's what Blockbuster is hoping will happen.

Blockbuster, the beleaguered and bankrupt rental chain, has asked the courts in New York to allow it to auction itself off to the highest bidder. Blockbuster says that putting the company up for sale will allow it to move forward, and would be a big step in its efforts to get out of bankruptcy protection.

Blockbuster announced that it had entered into a "stalking horse" agreement with Cobalt Video Holdco, a consortium of fund management companies, for $290 million. If the courts approve Blockbuster's request to go to auction, this offer would act as a reserve bid that other interested parties would have to beat if they wanted to acquire the company. The deal includes both Blockbuster's domestic and international arms, with stores expected to open as usual during the bidding process.

If Blockbuster's request is approved by the courts, then interested parties would have thirty days in which to bid for the company. Blockbuster predicts that it will close a sale by April 20th. Jim Keyes, Blockbuster's CEO, said that the auction would allow the company to get competing bids, and help ensure that whoever bought it had a clear vision for its future. He said that the new owners would be able to take advantage of Blockbuster's many strengths, including a strong library of titles and an internationally recognized brand name.

Blockbuster filed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103739-Blockbuster-Fizzles-Into-] for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September of last year, with more than $900 million dollars in debt. Since then, the company has spent millions on advertising, before announcing its intention to sell itself.

Source: via MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43154/Blockbuster-is-up-for-sale]


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z3rostr1fe

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Aug 14, 2009
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Good luck on that... Also, good luck to the winning bidder, if ever someone will ever bid to it.
 

Nedoras

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Jan 8, 2010
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I'm curious to who would purchase the company, if anyone would at all. They pretty much went into a downward spiral and it doesn't seem like a new owner would be able to climb back up that huge wall of failure that they fell from. I just keep getting the feeling that when they start the bids(if they do) with that 290 million dollars, the first bidder would raise his/her hand and say "I'll give ya five bucks for it".
 

LandoCristo

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Apr 2, 2010
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Oh Blockbuster. Now that people can rent movies online just as cheap as going to a store, with probably more selection (as far as out-dated titles goes), I think that they'll have to really change their strategy if they want to stay in business this time next year.
 

Daemascus

WAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!
Mar 6, 2010
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Who would want to buy Blockbuster? I mean, there is reason they went bankrupt. (cough cough netflix cough)
 

Vault Citizen

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May 8, 2008
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On the plus side if Blockbusters does go down the only local rental will be the one that I work at, my business for us!.
 

Buizel91

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Aug 25, 2008
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I hope this happens, the nearest store to my house is actually quite popular, and sees many people daily, for it to close would be upsetting =\ considering quite a few of my games come from there.

Good luck Blockbuster!
 

CheckD3

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Dec 9, 2009
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Really? Fuck, I work for the company at a currently closing store and I'm going to another store to keep my job...and now I hear this shit is happening? The rent agreements is what I think did the company in, since the store I'm closing and I'm sure many others were actually profitable stores closing because they couldn't get the rent agreement resigned for reasons mostly out of the companies control

Time to start finding another job, god dammit Blockbuster.
 

Rednog

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Nov 3, 2008
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CheckD3 said:
Really? Fuck, I work for the company at a currently closing store and I'm going to another store to keep my job...and now I hear this shit is happening? The rent agreements is what I think did the company in, since the store I'm closing and I'm sure many others were actually profitable stores closing because they couldn't get the rent agreement resigned for reasons mostly out of the companies control

Time to start finding another job, god dammit Blockbuster.
Wait, this is news? Dude, sorry to break this to you but it has been common knowledge for almost a year that Blockbuster has been hemorrhaging money left and right, hell I recall them being in severe debt since last summer. I remember hearing that they were actually supposed to go completely bankrupt in the summer and close everything, but they supposedly wanted another go with their whole online service push.
 

shadyh8er

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Apr 28, 2010
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Hm? I'm sorry I was busy watching anime being streamed on Netflix. What's this about?
 

Squilookle

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Nov 6, 2008
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I'll give you one dollar, Blockbuster, and that's just for the movies. You can keep the stores :p
 

duchaked

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Dec 25, 2008
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I'm gonna miss the Blockbuster that's just down the street around the corner

I'm not really a fan of movies that come in the mail...guess there's always streaming, but you can't stream game rentals!!
 

duchaked

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Dec 25, 2008
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arc1991 said:
I hope this happens, the nearest store to my house is actually quite popular, and sees many people daily, for it to close would be upsetting =\ considering quite a few of my games come from there.

Good luck Blockbuster!
yeah...I understand people are all cynical about it and all (understandably stuff like Netflix wins for streaming your anime *snicker*), but until they let us stream video games...that really only leaves mail-delivered games like with Gamefly =/
 

cathou

Souris la vie est un fromage
Apr 6, 2009
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For what i heard in canada they are in pretty good shape and actually making money. I really hope the US company will stay alive just to keep the ones we have in canada. Since i'm not a big fan of mail-in movies, and that flixter is in english only, i'll keep going to my local blockbuster for a while...