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Blockbuster Hits CTRL+Z

Blockbuster Hits CTRL+Z

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Summary

In September of 2000, three guys from a tiny DVD-rental startup called Netflix flew to Dallas on a chartered jet they couldn't afford to make a pitch to the most powerful video rental chain on Earth. Reed Hastings asked Blockbuster CEO John Antioco for fifty million dollars. Antioco's mouth twitched at the corner. His general counsel told the room the dot-com hysteria was overblown. The Netflix guys flew home crestfallen. Today Netflix is worth four hundred billion dollars, and the only Blockbuster left in America is a tourist attraction in Bend, Oregon.

He almost said yes.

This week we hit Control Z on the deal that would have killed Netflix in the crib, and follow what happens when one man writes the check.

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