Blockbuster Laughed at Netflix's $50 Million Offer

Blockbuster Laughed at Netflix. Then Netflix Destroyed Them. In the year 2000, Netflix offered to sell itself for fifty million dollars. Blockbuster laughed. Back then, Blockbuster was a giant. Thousands of stores, and millions of people renting movies every weekend. Netflix was tiny. It mailed DVDs to people's homes in red envelopes, and it was losing money. So its founders flew to Dallas with an offer. Buy us, and we'll run your online business. Blockbuster's leaders said no. Netflix, they believed, was a very small niche business. Netflix kept going. Then the internet got faster, and Netflix started streaming. People stopped driving to rental stores. Late fees, empty shelves, closed doors. In 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy. Netflix went on to become one of the biggest entertainment companies on Earth, worth hundreds of billions of dollars. All because in the year 2000, Netflix offered to sell itself for fifty million dollars. And Blockbuster laughed.