Cynical-C points to this story in Variety.
“We had the option to buy Netflix for $50 million and we didn’t do it. They were losing money. They came around a few times,” Blockbuster’s CEO, John Antioco, recalls.
Instead, in 2000, Blockbuster inked a 20-year exclusive video-on-demand pactpact with Enron as the energy conglomconglom launched into telecom. Blockbuster canned the pact after nine months.
Netflix is now worth $1.4 billion. Blockbuster’s market cap is about $850 million.
Missed opportunity is such a bitch.
