10 Incredible Facts You Didn't Know About Netflix
6. Blockbuster Could Have Owned Netflix
Technology evolves at an exponential rate today, which in turn has implications for the future that are both incredibly exciting, and bladder bustlingly terrifying. But in the context of human history, this exponential increase in technological development is relatively new. And given that it is so new, most of us naturally struggle to see that lots of the technologies and services we use now will very soon be obsolete.
Even more noticeably, most of us struggle to even imagine what technological innovation will change the world next week. Blockbuster was the go to video rental brand in the USA and many other parts of the world following its inception in 1985. There was a stage in Blockbusters history where there were nearly 10,000 stores in its family with tens of thousands of staff internationally. But much like movie studios in the 1950s who had gotten complacent due to lack of competition, Blockbuster could not see the future, and wildly underestimated the impact of technological change, and peoples affinity for the internet.
At the turn of the millennium Blockbuster was still a powerhouse and actually was offered the opportunity to purchase Netflix for a paltry $50 million. They scoffed at the idea and continued to run business at usual while basically ignoring any developments that were happening around them. As we all know Netflix had the last laugh.
By 2010 Netflix had destroyed Blockbuster's business base so badly that the company that Viacom shelled out $8.4 billion for (in 1994 dollars no less) was bankrupt. Blockbuster went defunct in 2013, while Netflix streams several billion hours of content a month.