Blockbuster In Surprise Bid To Buy Circuit City
from the does-this-make-sense? dept
The news came out early this morning that Blockbuster was making an unsolicited bid to buy Circuit City, which has left many scratching their heads, saying that the synergy isn't all that obvious. Circuit City has been in trouble for a while, and Blockbuster (while a lot healthier than Circuit City) has been facing its own series of challenges. While it's unclear what Blockbuster's plans are, the deal actually could make sense if Blockbuster was really looking distantly into the future about where its market is heading. It knows as well as anybody that video delivery is moving to the internet eventually -- at which point its business model gets a lot trickier. Yet, by owning a retailer selling hardware -- and the rights to content to be distributed to that hardware, things could actually get interesting. Now, I'll say ahead of time that I doubt this is where Blockbuster is heading, but with both movie distribution rights and the ability to sell hardware, it could embrace the economics of infinite goods, by packaging content (infinite) with hardware (scarce), creating a much more compelling offering, than competitors to either firm alone.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: consumer electronics, mergers, movies, retail
Companies: blockbuster, circuit city
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Offer to purchase
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Great. two sinking ships.
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It might make sense
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Re: It might make sense
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Re: It might make sense
Is there not a way currently to download Movies to your computer? I am pretty sure blockbuster allows you to download movies with a timer attached to it.
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Re: Re: It might make sense
Yes you can download movies off of the internet, or as you probably call it the interweb. Believe it or not, you can actually watch on the very same computer.
I sure hope someday they will allow tv shows to play on my interweb box soon. But that is probably 50 years away.
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Failed Due Dilligence
So they didn't just make this bid today. I'm guessing they are trying to get the stockholders to force blockbuster to actually complete the proper financial accounting.
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Re: Failed Due Dilligence
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They have forgotten
This is an act of desperation. Pity them.
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It's all just an elaborate money laundering scheme
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Sneaky...
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Re:
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Go big or go home
Circuit City is rolling out a used video game service to move in on GameStop becasue that industry is very healthy. Doing the same for movies while backing it with the rental service is a perfect way to accomidate all this ugly physical media. They could also encrouch on the Gamefly video game rental by mail service.
I could easily see brick and mortar Blockbusters dissapearing in favor of including that into the big box Circuit City. Either that or BB could morph into a Circuit City to go. A few download and burn kisosks, some set-top boxes, cell-phones, MP3 players, and stacks and stacks of machine accessible rentals.
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Hardly a surprise...
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Re:
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All big box electronics stores are going to blow.
Of course, some of these mergers have been good, but are quickly being overshadowed by the "big boys" who want to rule the digital empire.
The more I read this site, the more pissed I get. Are consumers really this stupid? Do they not know they possess the power to stop DRM?
I guess not.
If Blockbuster wins the bid, we're all screwed. BestBuy's questionable practices of late for me to stay as far away from it as possible while Circuit City's woes have also caused unsatisfactory performance in my latest experiences.
Blockbuster will most certainly use CC as its front runner to push that stupid download box to consumers and most of its content will be sold per Blockbuster's rules, not consumer demand.
And what will consumers do then?
Thank goodness Amazon still exists. I wouldn't know where to go if it wasn't.
Gaming note: If BB does indeed acquire CC, gamers should stay as far away from CC as possible given that BB is in the "resale" of used games (similar to GameStop).
That latest copy of the $59.99 Metal Gear Solid 4 you bought new may not be as new as you'd expect.
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infinite
--Glenn
8]
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terminated deal best for CC shareholders
Does anyone remember the RadioShack - Blockbuster alliance? In June 2001, 130 “RadioShack Cool Things” boutiques opened in Blockbuster outlets--six months later BBI pulled the plug on the 'pilot program.'
Is BBI is headed for bankruptcy?
http://10qdetective.blogspot.com/2008/05/circuit-city-should-remind-blockbuster.html
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