The final curtain is falling on about 300 Blockbuster locations scattered around the US, meaning the once dominant video-rental store chain will have just 50 franchised stores remaining open in the country.
The remaining Blockbuster video-rental stores that Dish Network Corp runs in the US will be closed by early January and as part of Dish Network’s retreat, Blockbuster’s DVD-by-mail service is also shutting down next month.
The cost-cutting measures culminate a Blockbuster downfall that began a decade ago with the rise of Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service, followed by the introduction of a subscription service that streams video over high-speed Internet connections.
The chain’s near extinction serves as another stark reminder of how quickly technology can reshape industries. Just a decade ago, Blockbuster reigned as one of the most ubiquitous retailers in the US with 9,100 stores.
Blockbuster also operates in other countries such as the UK, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.
About 2,800 people who work in Blockbuster’s stores and DVD distribution centers will lose their jobs, Dish Network said.
“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” Dish Network chief executive Joseph Clayton said in a statement on Wednesday.
The shift has been a boon for Netflix Inc, which boasts 31 million subscribers to its Internet video service and another 7.1 million DVD-by-mail customers.
The company’s success has minted Netflix with a market value of US$20 billion.
However, Blockbuster absorbed huge losses. It closed thousands of its stores before landing in bankruptcy court three years ago.
Dish Network bought Blockbuster’s remnants for about US$234 million in 2011 and then tried to mount a challenge to Netflix, but the Colorado satellite-TV provider could not wring a profit from Blockbuster either, prompting even more store closures.
Dish Network is trying to keep the Blockbuster brand alive through an Internet video-streaming service that rents movies and TV shows by title, for a set viewing time.
Blockbuster suffered an operating loss of US$35 million on revenue of US$1.1 billion last year and posted an operating loss of US$4 million during the first half of this year, according to regulatory filings.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last