rental company . for other uses see blockbuster . blockbuster llc blockbuster logo used 1985 2013 type subsidiary industry home entertainment & on demand entertainment founded october 19 1985 ; 30 years ago 1985 10 19 dallas texas founder david cook 1 headquarters englewood colorado number of locations 11 2016 2 services vhs dvd home video rentals total assets 37 000 000 2010 citation needed parent dish network divisions sling television dish movie pack movie trading company 3 ritz movies citation needed website blockbuster.com blockbuster llc also known as blockbuster and formerly blockbuster video entertainment inc. 4 was an american based provider of home movie and video game rental services through video rental shops dvd by mail streaming video on demand and cinema theater . 5 at its peak in 2004 blockbuster consisted of nearly 60 000 employees and over 9 000 stores . 6 7 as of 2016 dish network still maintains some blockbuster franchise agreements with 11 stores remaining . 2 as a result of competition from netflix and redbox blockbuster lost significant revenue and filed for bankruptcy protection on september 23 2010 . 8 9 on april 6 2011 the company and its remaining 1 700 stores were bought by satellite television provider dish network at auction for 233 million and the assumption of 87 million in liabilities and other obligations . 10 the acquisition was completed on april 26 2011 . 11 dish closed hundreds of blockbuster store locations per year until few remained . 12 13 14 while the blockbuster brand has mostly been retired dish has continued to license the brand name to franchise locations . until 2015 dish kept its blockbuster on demand video streaming service open along with a blockbuster home television package for dish subscribers . in 2015 blockbuster home was renamed dish movie pack . in november 2015 blockbuster on demand was shut down and all customers were redirected to sling tv . 15 16 17 contents 1 history 1.1 1985 1997 david cook 1.2 1997 2007 john antioco 1.3 2007 2011 james keyes 1.4 2011 present david kelly bankruptcy and remaining operations 2 blockbuster entertainment awards 3 senior management 3.1 chief executive officers 4 business model 4.1 quantity and selection of titles 5 retail operations 5.1 blockbuster express 5.2 gamerush 5.3 international 5.3.1 australia 5.3.2 brazil 5.3.3 canada 5.3.4 denmark 5.3.5 ireland 5.3.6 japan 5.3.7 peru 5.3.8 united kingdom 6 online rentals 6.1 united states 6.2 united kingdom 6.3 brazil 6.4 movielink acquisition 7 controversy 7.1 misleading advertising 8 advertising 8.1 super bowl 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit 1985 1997 david cook edit the first blockbuster store opened october 19 1985 in dallas texas . 18 19 the founder of the company was david cook who grew the business and brought it public . 1 the innovation was derived from cook s experience with managing huge databases . 1 after the first few stores opened cook built a 6 million warehouse in garland texas that could pull and package multiple stores in a day . clarification needed key to the early success of blockbuster was their ability to customize a store to its neighborhood loading it up with films geared specifically to demographic profiles in addition to the popular new releases and a sizable catalog of titles . 1 in 1987 the company won a court case against nintendo of america inc which paved the way for the rental of video games . 20 scott beck of dallas approached john melk prior executive with waste management about buying a franchise . melk brought the idea to his friend and business associate wayne huizenga who agreed to buy the company after overcoming initial concerns about the video industry . 21 huizenga and melk used similar techniques in growing waste management and soon they were opening a store every 24 hours . 22 they also bought every blockbuster franchise they could acquire . huizenga spent the late 1980s acquiring several of blockbuster s rivals including major video . a blockbuster store in durham north carolina in 1990 blockbuster bought mid atlantic rival erol s which had more than 250 stores . 23 in 1992 blockbuster acquired the sound warehouse and music plus music retail chains and created blockbuster music . 24 in october 1993 blockbuster acquired controlling interest in spelling entertainment group a media company run by television producer aaron spelling . 25 they also owned a large stake 35 % in republic pictures ; that company merged with spelling in april 1994 . 26 the company became a multibillion dollar company and in 1993 proposed a merger with viacom . after both companies stocks tumbled in 1994 viacom purchased blockbuster for 8.4 billion . 27 28 not in citation given the blockbuster block party concept was test marketed in albuquerque new mexico and indianapolis indiana in 1994 . it was an entertainment complex aimed at adults containing eight themed areas housing a restaurant games laser tag arena and motion simulator rides and was housed in a windowless building the size of a city block . 29 during the 1990s blockbuster expanded in the united kingdom purchasing that country s ritz video chain . the stores were rebranded to blockbuster making it the number one rental chain in that country . 30 in 1996 the blockbuster entertainment corporation was renamed blockbuster entertainment inc. 4 and the retail stores then called blockbuster video were renamed blockbuster . during that year blockbuster which was then headquartered in fort lauderdale florida began studying the idea of moving its headquarters into the renaissance tower in downtown dallas . 31 in november 1996 blockbuster confirmed that it was moving into the renaissance tower . 32 most of the workers at the florida headquarters did not want to relocate so blockbuster planned to hire around 500 to 600 new employees for its dallas headquarters . the company had offered various relocation packages to all of its fort lauderdale employees . 33 1997 2007 john antioco edit in 1998 blockbuster created dej productions which acquired 225 films primarily to provide exclusive content to its blockbuster stores prior to being sold off to first look studios in 2005 . 34 during that same year blockbuster bought the irish video rental store xtra vision with over 200 stores in ireland and the uk . in 2009 blockbuster sold off its irish operations to birchall investments with the few xtra vision stores in the uk being rebranded as blockbuster . in august 1998 viacom sold the blockbuster music chain to wherehouse entertainment who was subsequently purchased by trans world entertainment in 2003 . 35 blockbuster dvd by mail envelope in 2000 the company turned down a chance to purchase the still fledgling netflix for 50 million . 36 in 2002 blockbuster acquired movie trading company a dallas chain that buys sells and trades movies and games to study potential business models for dvd and game trading . also that year it acquired gamestation a 64 store uk computer and console games retailer chain . blockbuster separated from viacom in 2004 . online dvd subscription was introduced on blockbuster.com aka blockbuster online . 37 blockbuster also rolled out its game rush store in store concept to approximately 450 domestic company operated stores . blockbuster began game and dvd trading in select us stores . 38 in may 2005 financier carl icahn waged a successful proxy fight to add himself and two other members to the board . icahn accused blockbuster of overpaying chairman and ceo john f. antioco who had served in that capacity since 1997 receiving 51.6 million in compensation for 2004 . icahn was also at odds with antioco on how to revive profit at blockbuster ; antioco scrapped late fees in january started an internet service and wanted to keep the company independent while icahn wanted to sell out to a private equity firm . 39 in 2007 antioco left the company reportedly due to continued controversy over his compensation . he left with a 24.7 million severance package . 40 on june 19 2007 after a pilot program launched in late 2006 blockbuster announced that it had chosen blu ray over hd dvd rental format to rent in a majority of its stores . in the pilot program blockbuster offered selected titles for rental and sale in 250 stores . blockbuster stocked blu ray titles in almost 5 000 stores across the united states canada the united kingdom mexico and australia . 41 2007 2011 james keyes edit on july 2 2007 the company named james w. keyes former president and ceo of 7 eleven as the new chairman and ceo . he introduced a new business strategy that included de emphasizing the unprofitable total access online service in favor of an in store retail oriented model . his predecessor john f. antioco attempted this same plan in 1997 . additionally blockbuster lifted the ban on using check cards to secure rentals of movies and games in excess of the per visit checkout limit . citation needed on september 14 2007 blockbuster gb limited bought a number of retail stores from choicesuk plc. choicesuk is an aim listed multi channel distributor and retailer of dvds computer games and cds . the sale secured employment for approximately 450 employees across 59 stores in the uk . as part of the transaction blockbuster gb decided to rebrand the stores as blockbuster . citation needed on february 17 2008 blockbuster proposed a buyout of struggling circuit city . however after a due diligence review of circuit city s financial books by blockbuster pushed for by carl icahn blockbuster withdrew its offer in july 2008 . analysts were not favorable to the proposed deal viewing it as a desperate effort to save two struggling retailers rather than a bold turnaround initiative . 42 subsequently circuit city filed for bankruptcy on november 10 2008 and after liquidating all of its stores ceased operations on march 8 2009 . 43 a blockbuster store in moor allerton leeds on february 10 2010 blockbuster announced that it would cease all its operations in portugal closing down 17 outlets and leaving over 100 workers unemployed . blockbuster representatives in portugal blamed internet piracy and the lack of government response to it as the key factors to the company s bankruptcy in the country . 44 on march 1 2010 blockbuster began additional daily rates or adrs for rentals not returned by their due date in the united states having already used this procedure in other countries such as the uk for many years . an additional daily rate was charged for each day a member chooses to keep the rental beyond the rental terms . on march 12 2010 pricewaterhousecoopers blockbuster s independent registered public accounting firm issued its audit opinion disclosing substantial doubt about blockbuster s ability to continue as a going concern . this report was included in blockbusters s 10 k sec filing . on march 17 2010 blockbuster issued a bankruptcy warning after continued drops in revenue threatened its ability to service its nearly 1 billion debt load . by april 1 2010 carl icahn had resigned from blockbuster s board of directors and sold nearly all his remaining blockbuster stock . 45 in may 2010 the liquidation of movie gallery began leaving blockbuster as the only remaining national video rental chain in the united states . 46 during the same month a dissident shareholder gregory s. meyer in an effort to be elected to blockbuster s board of directors engaged in a proxy battle with blockbuster s board alleging that the board had been responsible for significant destruction of value to shareholders . meyer was elected to the board at blockbuster s shareholder meeting in dallas on june 24 2010 . on july 1 2010 the company was delisted from the new york stock exchange after its shareholders failed to pass a reverse stock split plan aimed