Blockbuster - How To Ruin The Perfect Business! (Season 5 Episode 11)
- Author
- History's Greatest Idiots
- Published
- Sun 11 May 2025
- Episode Link
- https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/historysgreatestidiots/episodes/Blockbuster---How-To-Ruin-The-Perfect-Business--Season-5-Episode-11-e32mvqi
There is one company that is so synonymous with the 1990s that it has been used as a visual cue for the era in virtually every nostalgia-tinged movie and TV show since it went out of business: Blockbuster Video.
But, despite being a titan of industry and THE go-to store in its niche, the company's demise was as rapid and embarrassing as the brand was iconic.
Wasteful spending, a reluctance to innovate, and paying top executives tens of millions of dollars when the company was struggling to turn a profit, were just some of the many stupid decisions the company had already made by the time it made what many experts consider to be the most catastrophic decision in corporate history: Blockbuster turned down the opportunity to buy Netflix for just $50 million.
Stick around to learn more about one of the most ridiculous corporate downfalls ever.
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Artist: Sarah Chey
https://www.fiverr.com/sarahchey
Animation: Daniel Wilson
https://www.instagram.com/wilson_the_wilson/
Music: Andrew Wilson
https://www.instagram.com/andrews_electric_sheep
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