BlockBuster: The Men & Moments Behind Its Rise and Fall episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 15, 2026 · 31 MIN

BlockBuster: The Men & Moments Behind Its Rise and Fall

from Great Business Stories · host Caemin

There are so many great characters in this story — I dig into the founder, David Cook, a guy who sold the business for $12 million but could have made $300 million if he'd stayed on for just a few more years. And then Wayne Huizenga, the guy who turbo-charged the business, after building his first fortune in the rough and tumble of the waste management business in the 70s and 80s. There's the now legendary meeting where Blockbuster's executives had the chance to buy a fledgling company called Netflix for $50 million but more or less laughed the Netflix founders out of the room. And then, as I've come to expect, Carl Icahn makes an appearance and bullies his way into the business, but makes a complete mess of it. It's a cracking story — enjoy.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 15, 2026

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BlockBuster: The Men & Moments Behind Its Rise and Fall

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