Blockbuster is a home movie and video game rental company that was founded by David Cook and opened its first store in Dallas, Texas in 1985. Stores were both owned and franchised. DVD-by-mail, streaming, online, and on-demand services were later added.
The company grew quickly throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s.
In 1990 Blockbuster bought out a big rival, Erol’s, and two music retail chains to start Blockbuster music.
In 1993 they proposed a merger with Viacom, but when both companies’ stocks fell, Viacom bought Blockbuster for over $8 billion.
Blockbuster separated from Viacom in 2004 when the company was at its peak with 60,000 employees and 9,000 stores.
From 2004 to 2010 Blockbuster faced increasingly fierce competition and had a business model that was increasingly difficult to maintain. In 2010 the company were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange when its stock was trading at less than $1 per share.
Blockbuster subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of the competition from Netflix, Redbox, and on-demand movie services.
Blockbuster were bought by the Dish network in 2012, which closed down all but 350 stores nationwide.
