Blockbuster calls the Circuit City merger off, asks for class ring back

It looks like the potential lovefest that might have been the Blockbuster and Circuit City mashup has drifted away as quickly as it appeared. "Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process, we have determined that it is not in the best interest of Blockbuster's shareholders to proceed with an acquisition of Circuit City," said Jim Keyes, head-pimp at B-Buster. We can't be sure what the result was with Circuit City shareholders or employees, but we're willing to bet it didn't look anything like that Best Buy rap video. One more time, after the break.

[Ignatius @ Jul 1st 2008 10:16PM]

Probably because Circuit City's stock price dropped two bucks in the past month.

[GatgetMan @ Jul 1st 2008 10:39PM]

Considering it WAS at $4.80, two bucks is quite a bit!

[Jonny @ Jul 1st 2008 10:16PM]

Might have something to do with our stock plummeting and our CEO driving the company and brand into the ground.

[Ignatius @ Jul 1st 2008 10:51PM]

Now it's down to $2.55... we'll probably see another CompUSA fallout. Except they probably won't be bought up.

[mayhem85 @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:50AM]

I guess we'll see what'll happen in the next 6 months to a year...

[ScOObyDoo @ Jul 1st 2008 10:23PM]

Due diligence = we came to the conclusion that Circuit City is piece of crap.

That said, Blockbuster ain't much better. It would have been the perfect combination of 2 crappy companies.

[Ghen @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:31AM]

All brick and mortar stores are crapping out. Good riddance to high prices and pushy salesmen.

[Josh Asbury @ Jul 1st 2008 10:24PM]

This merger never made sense to me anyway. Two companies past their prime trying to do something....anything...to stay relevant.

[xkevin @ Jul 2nd 2008 1:35PM]

Made sense to me. Blockbuster is unique in that many of its stores have residential market penetration. Circuit City locations are primarily located in high-traffic retail areas with a competitor a short distance away. I believe the idea was to create an express-type concept in Blockbuster stores focusing on home theater equipment. Considering something like 22% of US-households have home theater systems, its a segment that has a lot of room for growth.

[GatgetMan @ Jul 1st 2008 10:37PM]

Sears + K-Mart

[The Aggie CEO @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:10AM]

Sears+Kmart helped out both companies tho.........

K-mart stock went from .27/share back up to $150/share....I mean hell its lower now of course but it really helped out both companies........

[giantenemycrab @ Jul 1st 2008 10:38PM]

one crappy company merging with another crappy company, sounds like a match made in heaven.

[cy21 @ Jul 1st 2008 10:49PM]

lol.. that was.... strange

[phanbouy @ Jul 1st 2008 11:00PM]

i milked ballbuster online for a while just to squeeze some life out of my $50 Xbox HD DVD drive for a while, and then i dropped them like the bad habit they are. so long, and thanks for all the fish.

netflix FTW

[Duy @ Jul 1st 2008 11:33PM]

I guess I'm the only one that feels pity for Circuit City. While their selection compared to Best Buy is lacking, their customer service (at least for me) is top notch. During the Wii madness of '06-'07, the local Circuit City opened the store early for the people in line so they could get on with their lives.

Oh well. Maybe a miracle will happen. Monopolistic competition is nasty.

[deyanimay @ Jul 1st 2008 11:53PM]

even though best buy has a larger selection i think circuit city has slightly better pricing.

[Peter @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:02AM]

The Best Buy near me just has more useless crap than Circuit City. Circuit City just cuts the crap and only sells the good HDTVs.

[Cactus @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:43AM]

Yeah, they opened early here as well. And about 2 out of 3 of the people in line who got a Wii were Circuit City employees, some of them even showing up in uniform.

I'm not a Worst Buy "fanboy" (is there such a thing?), but I won't mourn the loss of Circuit City at all. The stores, like many employees, were just completely useless. I'm more concerned about what will happen to the store space once they're gone. In this economy, CC's closing -- with no retailer out there looking to expand -- will kill off a lot of strip malls...

[Jack Storm @ Jul 2nd 2008 5:05AM]

@ Peter

WTF CC has some of the worst selection in HDTVs, that is unless you like Vizio....

They carry no Pioneer Elites, none of the top Samsungs' like their LED line and the simple sony xbr5 is a special order for them

[KnuxSonic @ Jul 1st 2008 11:41PM]

Anytime the Best Buy Victory Rap is somehow worked into the story, I cry tears of joy.

[MBS @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:01AM]

When Keys says "Blockbuster's shareholders" he is referring to himself.
When Keys says "Best interest" he's talking about a short term gain in stock price blockbusters future as a company be damned.

[Wildness @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:04AM]

What do you get when one big, crappy company buys another big, crappy company? A Ginormous pile of crappy company.

The flip side to the merger would have been one about-to-die dinosaur company instead of two.

[WilsonGoneWild @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:21AM]

"We takin ova!"

[9bit @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:31AM]

Merger not in Blockbuster's best interests? I could have told you that.

[mayhem85 @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:53AM]

It's also crap like this video why I will never work for Best Buy...

can you say brainwashing?

[gadgix @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:25PM]

most definitely. I worked at best buy years ago and it was pathetic. Those kids were used and abuse and fooled to believe that they were important to the company. Their daily ¨pep rally¨ meetings were so cheesy and fake that I couldn´t understand how some of those kids felt important. It was obvious to me that they could fire me in a second and not even care.

[icdeadppl @ Jul 2nd 2008 1:21AM]

NO! TY

[TwhiT @ Jul 2nd 2008 2:01AM]

wat? O_o

Who WOULDN'T want to be bought by Blockbuster? ^_^ kekeke

[Michael @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:46AM]

All these mergers make think: "Why?". Competition is good, but merger after mergers and we will have stores like in Wall E.

[kevin @ Jul 2nd 2008 8:06PM]

We already do.. it's called Walmart

[Omegablue14 @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:57AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkvK3via80I

This video is way better. As someone that has worked at best buy, these videos are why they are better than CC, people actually have fun and like to work at BBY