KFBR392 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I believe the guys who didn't buy netflix were also the same guys that sold the company for a decent amount a year or two before it went tits up. I'd say a worse business decision should be awarded to the bozos who bought blockbuster when the writing was clearly already on the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Wow! I did not know that happened. A free dating website being sold for over half a Billion. I wonder how long until buyers remorse sets in with that purchase. That's a dating site? What kind of &^@#ing name is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I believe the guys who didn't buy netflix were also the same guys that sold the company for a decent amount a year or two before it went tits up. I'd say a worse business decision should be awarded to the bozos who bought blockbuster when the writing was clearly already on the wall. Just because they bought the company when it was going "tits up" doesn't mean it was all loss. Not only can they write off much of the purchase, but the valuation of intangible assets absorbed may be much more than what they paid for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webster6 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I had heard of this. Not much you can do but laugh. I'd kill to be a fly on a wall during that business meeting between Netflix and Blockbuster execs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BI3KSA- Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 That's a dating site? What kind of ???? name is that? I'm assuming its a play on "plenty of fish in the sea" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancaster Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Back then Netflix had only 250000 subscribers for their DVD service. Hardly something really worth investing for a huge company like Blockbusters. Plus, why would they invest in a company that's outright competing against them? Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time, they sort-of made the right decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Back then Netflix had only 250000 subscribers for their DVD service. Hardly something really worth investing for a huge company like Blockbusters. Plus, why would they invest in a company that's outright competing against them? Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time, they sort-of made the right decision. In the bold is the compelling answer, because they indeed were direct competitors. In the late 90s when DVD was becoming adopted in the mainstream, I read numerous articles online suggesting that the future wasn't discs but large storage mediums. The technological writing on the wall could be seen from a long time out. I worked for BB in San Francisco right out of high school in 2000 and it was clear then their strategy was not to be innovative or compete, it was to buy up competitors, anti-competitively undercut competitors who refused their offer, then buy up their inventory when they went kaput and raise the price gouge their customers on rentals and late fees (with an ability to severely harm someone's credit) when they had no other competitors. So it's surprising that they would pass on a surging direct competitor. Thanks to this, Netflix adapted to the moves away from discs over to streaming (now called "cloud") services, while BB continued their futile strategy of fighting technology and trying too hard to control consumers vis a vis "retail options". It would up effing them in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl's Jn Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I wish I had invented plentyoffish.com That just sold for $550 million. it works! its how i got my wife! awesome site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl's Jn Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 think of any other websites you can come up with like plentyof fish and try to invent it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down by the River Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I may be wrong, but did video streaming even exist in 2000? I seem to recall the internet being a very slow place in 2000, youtube didn't even exist until '05 if I recall. It existed before '05, but I think that is when Google bought it. At the time, youtube had a lot of copyright infringement issues, and I assumed that once a wealthy company like Google bought it, that it would come under extensive litigation, making it unprofitable. In effect, I predicted Youtube would die out within a couple years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 It existed before '05, but I think that is when Google bought it. At the time, youtube had a lot of copyright infringement issues, and I assumed that once a wealthy company like Google bought it, that it would come under extensive litigation, making it unprofitable. In effect, I predicted Youtube would die out within a couple years. Google went all in on them. I worked for them at the time they were importing their non corporate staff from the Burlingame Youtube office to the Mountain View Google office. They were given the royal treatment and put in building 43 pretty close to the founders' offices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon45ca Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 It existed before '05, but I think that is when Google bought it. At the time, youtube had a lot of copyright infringement issues, and I assumed that once a wealthy company like Google bought it, that it would come under extensive litigation, making it unprofitable. In effect, I predicted Youtube would die out within a couple years. Just looked it up, YouTube was founded in Feb '05, & purchased by Google in Nov '06 for 1.65 Billion with a B...damn, that's a quick & astronomical return on investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Just looked it up, YouTube was founded in Feb '05, & purchased by Google in Nov '06 for 1.65 Billion with a B...damn, that's a quick & astronomical return on investment. If you look at the marketshare at the time of video sites, I think Youtube had easily doubled/tripled up on it's nearest two competitors, one of them being Google, the other like.. Facebook or Myspace. Google just jumped on an investment any company with the money should have made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon45ca Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Back then Netflix had only 250000 subscribers for their DVD service. Hardly something really worth investing for a huge company like Blockbusters. Plus, why would they invest in a company that's outright competing against them? Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time, they sort-of made the right decision. Best Buy bought Future Shop, GM bought Cadillac, Sobeys bought Safeway...it's literally been happening for well over a century. When you buy a rival company, they are no longer your competitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabreFan1 Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 That's a dating site? What kind of ???? name is that? Plenty of Fish. When I first learned of it, I was like, "There's two ways that name can be interpreted". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Plenty of Fish. When I first learned of it, I was like, "There's two ways that name can be interpreted". When I first read the site name I was thinking "SimFish".. like SimCity or SimAnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baer. Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Hard to compare the Netflix of 2000 to the Netflix of today. Netflix was an online movie mail order. You went online and got your dvd's in the mail. Went they started video streaming, DVD's went obsolete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabreFan1 Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Hard to compare the Netflix of 2000 to the Netflix of today. Netflix was an online movie mail order. You went online and got your dvd's in the mail. Went they started video streaming, DVD's went obsolete. I remember Netflix was hurting Blockbuster even before streaming. People thought I was weird when I would tell them I still got my DVDs from Blockbuster stores and even weirder still when I started using Blockbuster instead of Netflix for my mail delivery DVDs and then eventually Blockbusters own streaming service. I only finally stopped using Blockbuster when they kept sending me scratched DVDs every other time I got one in the mail. By that point Blockbuster was a shell of it's former self. Streaming was just the final shove that gave Blockbuster a mercifully quick death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soshified Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I miss Blockbuster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabreFan1 Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 I miss Blockbuster Even though I stayed a customer of theirs until almost the end, I don't miss them one bit. They were a very arrogant and greedy company. They nickled and dimed their customers every chance they got. That only changed once they started getting their butts whooped by Netflix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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