Daily Digit: Believe it or not, Blockbuster isn’t completely dead yet

Daily Digit is the story behind the numbers that make our world work. Today we’re looking at the company that was once the king of video rentals: Blockbuster. There is only one Blockbuster store left in the U.S., in Bend, Ore. At its peak in 2004, the company had over 9,000 video rental stores. Blockbuster’s CEO even passed on the opportunity to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000. Netflix is now worth more than $150 billion, and is responsible for “killing” the video rental business. Independent video rental stores still in operation are primarily in the Midwest and other rural areas where high speed internet access isn’t readily available.