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Posted
Sep 16 2009, 01:16 PM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This article is written by Minyanville's Mike Schuster
Years of mismanagement, increased competition, and ill-conceived promotions have caught up to Blockbuster (BBI). On Tuesday, the company announced plans to close 810 to 960 underperforming locations -- an amount that doubles the previous aim of 410 to 450 stores -- in an effort to stave off the increasing likelihood of Chapter 11.
In addition the shuttered locations, the company said it may revamp 250 to 300 existing stores into used DVD outlets, bringing the total percentage of closed or altered Blockbuster locations to 24% to 29%.
The last few years have been rough for the once-great king of rental video. Netflix (NFLX) has ushered people away from the brick-and-mortar shops to the ease of online rental membership. And Redbox (CSTR) kiosks have been the popular choice for those who need a DVD title for a paltry $1/night fee.
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Posted
Jun 26 2009, 10:27 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
New York's cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Agency -- the behemoth that oversees the operation of the city's subways, buses, and commuter rail lines -- has sold the naming rights to one of the busiest subway stops in Brooklyn, and may do the same with stations throughout the system. Barclays (BCS) will soon add its name to the Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street station in Brooklyn, a major stop where 10 subway lines and the Long Island Railroad converge. The hook: There are plans to build a huge housing development and sports complex nearby, boosting the area’s prestige -- and the number of people passing through the station each day. If the Brooklyn project succeeds, don't be surprised if express stops on the West Side line become Starbucks (SBUX), formerly known as 14th Street station; General Electric (GE), formerly 33rd Street-Penn Station; or McDonald's (MCD), formerly 42nd Street-Times Square.
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Posted
Jun 24 2009, 08:54 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 When commercial music first appeared on cassettes, movies soon followed suit. Then came compact discs -- and film soon followed suit. And now that commercial music has all but abandoned a physical media format, the DVD's days are numbered.
Netflix (NFLX) chief executive Reed Hastings is certainly preparing for the moment when DVDs are no longer viable.
The inevitable death of the DVD has long been on Hastings' radar -- ever since the company's inception. Though Netflix set the standard for snail-mailed movie rentals, it has always been poised to take advantage of instant-streaming technology -- as the company name makes clear.
But the shift to streaming media involves a completely new set of issues.
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Posted
Jun 16 2009, 05:54 AM
by
Louis Navellier
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When broadcast stations switched from analog to digital signals this week, Netflix (NFLX), the online movie company, threw a party.
Well, it should have, anyway. That's because Netflix now becomes a competitor to cable television, offering access to "free cable channels" for a much lower price than subscribing to a cable service.
But that's not the only reason I like Netflix. Netflix has taken the movie-watching experience to a whole new level, one that doesn't involve getting dressed and heading to the local video store to rent the latest releases. Instead, Netflix delivers DVDs straight to your mailbox. What's more, the company now offers instant access to many movies over the Internet so you don't even have to wait for the postman.
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Posted
Mar 03 2009, 11:16 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Nothing like a bankruptcy rumor to demolish a share price. Blockbuster (BBI) has hired lawyers to look into a possible bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg reports. Shares plunged 77% Tuesday to 22 cents before trading was halted.
Late Tuesday, Blockbuster said it was exploring a corporate restructuring, and not a bankruptcy.
The movie-rental chain has been hit hard by Netflix (NFLX), which has been firing on all cylinders for years while Blockbuster struggled to find a strategy for the future. On some days, it went after Netflix with guns blazing, but other times it pursued other ideas, such as its bizarre attempt to buy Circuit City last year. Blockbuster has 7,500 stores worldwide, and hasn't wanted to cannibalize its retail sales with a by-mail DVD effort (It has a by-mail offering, but has wavered on how heavily to promote it). But the video-rental industry is hurting, despite Blockbuster's many attempts to try to lure people back to stores with in-store kiosks and other offerings.
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Posted
Jan 27 2009, 04:06 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
Another day, another round of layoffs. On Monday, the announcements seemed to go on all day, starting in Europe with Dutch consumer-electronics giant Philips cutting 6,000 jobs, and spreading across the U.S. to the construction, pharmaceutical, telecom, and retail sectors. The New York Times calculates more than 75,000 jobs in the U.S. and around the world were eliminated by corporate bosses yesterday as the global economic outlook goes from bad to worse. The Guardian reckons it was closer to 80,000, making it "one of the bleakest days in recent memory." CNNMoney.com calls it "Bloody Monday," adding that more than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, and the nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008 was the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945. The relatively hopeful measures of "furloughs, wage reductions, hiring freezes and shorter hours" are not doing the trick for struggling companies, the New York Times says. As the recession bites harder, there's only one option left: mass layoffs
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Posted
Jan 26 2009, 12:22 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
In this economic recession, how is it that Netflix (NFLX) has a rock-solid quarter and continues to draw new subscribers? Shares of the DVD-by-mail rental company are up 7% in after-hours trading Monday after it posted a nice subscriber gain for the Christmas quarter. It was a great three months for the company, which saw its total subscribers grow 26% from last year to 9.4 million. That's 8% more than the third quarter. Sales for the quarter rose 19% from a year earlier and profit rose about 30%. The company beat analyst expectations in both those areas. In addition, its cost spent to gain a subscriber fell to $26.67 from $34.58. Just about all the numbers should be well-received by investors, as is the news that
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Posted
Oct 27 2008, 11:44 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Netflix is finally expanding its streaming-video service to work with Macs, which have been excluded from the offering since it started last year. Anyone with a PC could watch Netflix's vast collection of online movies, but Mac users paying the same subscription fees were not allowed in. Now, a limited number of Intel-based Mac subscribers can access the online movies, with full availibility by the end of the year. I doubt this will make much of an impact on Netflix's bottom line, although some people have said they held off subscribing for precisely this reason. Netflix may get a small bump in subscribers, but the additional online movie watching will also weigh on operational costs. Netflix cut its subscriber growth forecast twice this month,
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Posted
Oct 20 2008, 01:32 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 These days, investing at any level is precarious -- unless you are shorting or your portfolio is hedged. Just dipping your toes in the water could have yielded disastrous results. Listening or reading expert opinion shows that many now recommend investing with an eye towards safety through companies with secure dividends. The problem with that idea is that there is no way to tell how secure the dividends are until it is too late.
Earnings season has just started and already reports have been disappointing investors and many stocks have been continuing their fall. If ever there was a time when we didn't need to see hundreds of earnings reports delivered during a five-day span, now would be it. Here's what to watch as we go into this earnings season
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Posted
Aug 15 2008, 10:15 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Netflix is breathing a sigh of relief. Its severe technical problems have been fixed, at least enough for DVD shipments to resume today, the company said. "With possible rare exceptions, we will get everything out today," a spokesman told Reuters. Looking at the company's five-day stock chart, it's clear that investors are satisfied. Shares dipped close to the $30 mark Wednesday, at the height of the outage, but today they've rebounded to around $32.
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