Blockbuster executives laughed Netflix founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph out of the room in the year 2000 when they offered to sell their fledgling DVD-by-mail service for a measly fifty million dollars.

A closer look

Blockbuster executives laughed Netflix founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph out of the room in the year 2000 when they offered to sell their fledgling DVD-by-mail service for a measly fifty million dollars. The brick-and-mortar giant confidently bet everything on their business model of punishing customers with exorbitant late fees for forgetting to rewind VHS tapes, a strategy that aged about as well as milk left in a hot car. Now Blockbuster exists solely as a single nostalgic tourist trap in Bend, Oregon, while Netflix dominates global culture, serving as the ultimate cautionary tale for arrogant corporate suits who underestimate the sheer power of consumers wanting to binge-watch trashy reality television without having to put on pants