Netflix lost $57 million and offered to sell itself for $50 million.
The buyer it approached was Blockbuster. At the end of 2000, Netflix had 292,000 subscribers, according to its annual filing with the SEC, the US securities regulator. It mailed DVDs to homes in a red paper envelope. Blockbuster had thousands of stores.
Early in 2000, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings flew to Blockbuster's headquarters in Dallas. Randolph says they went up to the 27th floor of the Renaissance Tower and asked $50 million for the whole company. In his book he wrote that chief executive John Antioco was "struggling not to laugh". They left without a deal.
Antioco tells it differently. In 2022 he wrote that the offer came off the cuff, at a meeting he did not attend: "I can say with complete confidence that there were never any serious acquisition talks in 2000."
On 16 January 2007, Netflix let its members stream about 1,000 titles. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy on 23 September 2010. On 30 September 2026, Netflix had a market value of about $290 billion.
One-minute true story. AI-generated illustration with narration by an AI voice.
Who in your company would have taken that $50 million meeting seriously?
What the captions say
- This is the story of how Netflix, early in 2000, offered to sell itself for $50 million. That year it lost $57 million.
- Twenty-six years later, it is worth about $290 billion. The buyer was Blockbuster, whose boss at the time disputes the famous story of that meeting.
- Netflix was not yet three years old. It mailed films on DVD in a red paper envelope, and waited for them to come back.
- By the end of that year it had fewer than 300,000 subscribers. Blockbuster, the giant of video rental, had thousands of stores.
- The two founders flew to Blockbuster's headquarters in Dallas.
- Marc Randolph, one of the two founders, says he and Reed Hastings went up to the 27th floor of the Renaissance Tower and named their price, $50 million.
- He wrote, years later, that across the table Blockbuster's chief executive, John Antioco, was struggling not to laugh, and that they left without a deal.
- Twenty-two years later, Antioco wrote that the offer was made off the cuff, at a meeting he was not at. There were never any serious acquisition talks in 2000.
- Netflix kept posting red envelopes for seven more years.
- Then, on 16 January 2007, Netflix let its members watch about a thousand titles over the internet.
- On 23 September 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy.
- And at the end of September 2026, Netflix was worth about $290 BILLION. In Dallas, they had asked for $50 million.
