Blockbuster Video bankrupt, officially killed by the internet

The internet has officially killed another industry. Blockbuster Video has announced to Hollywood studios that it plans to declare bankruptcy in mid September, after hemorrhaging money for the last two years. In 1994, it was acquired from Viacom for 8.4 billion dollars, and today is worth roughly 24 million. While not an economist, I can hazard a guess that some investors are disappointed by this.

The filing won't come as a big surprise to most people, and even fewer are likely to feel seriously affected. In fact, for anyone under the age of twenty, I should probably mention that Blockbuster was a kind of Netflix in a store, where instead of the movies coming to your door, you had to drive and pick them up and pay really aggravating late fees if you didn't return them. It's a business model that was once a great idea, and now, just a few years down the road, seems totally ridiculous. The company intends to stick around as a Netflix competitor, and some stores will remain open in high-performing  markets. However, the age of "making it a Blockbuster night," seems to have officially come to an end.