Blockbuster dying

(Update 13Nov09) BBI released not so good earning report (Reuters). One interesting point is they are going to spend $10,000 to $20,000 to renovate the stores (about 1,700).

(Original) Note I am saying “dying”, not “death”. This also does not demonstrate all the hard work of men and women at Blockbuster, from corporate to stores, note I am merely talking about the trend of a business. Full disclosure: I do have a small long position on Blockbuster common stock (NYSE:BBI).

Two points:

First, stock and company are two things, Blockbuster dying does not equal to Blockbuster stock BBI goes to zero immediately. Example: The Motors Liquidation Company (formerly General Motors, MTLQQ.PK). Last I checked, their worthless stock is still trading at 65 cents.

Portfolio management: trade to lower cost

Buy and hold, long term investing? I hold CROX from $75 to $20, hoping for a rebounce. It never came. Sometimes we got to trade stocks to take advantage of price volatility (up and downs). I was successful on this aspect from time to time, especially since the stock rally started this March. I made some money back from NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Huntsman (NYSE:HUN), to cover the loss from holding Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B). Here again the lesson of “buy and hold”, even for a good company like Berkshire, I bought it at wrong time (April, May 2008).

BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buy Apr 9, 2008 1.00 4,349.89 7.00
BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buy May 12, 2008 1.00 4,130.00 7.00
BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Sell Mar 23, 2009 1.00 2,894.25 7.00
BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Sell Mar 26, 2009 1.00 2,939.51 7.00

Pros and Cons of low cost trading: Sogotrade

IS blockbuster busted?

VHS:blockbuster vs. DVD:Netflix

This is the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) analogy I would use for movie rental companies Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) and Netflix (Nasdaq:NFLX). The popularity of VHS tape made the success of Blockbuster, as I read from Wiki, the first Blockbuster movie rental store was established in Dallas in 1985 (24 years ago). By similar token, the popularity and technology bring huge success to the “all you can eat” DVD by mail service provider Netflix.

Blockbuster did not stand still. They got rid of the infamous “late fees”, replaced all the good old VHS tapes with much slicker DVDs, even tried the Total Access (combining DVD by mail and at store), but it appears they are still losing a lot customers to Netflix. More recently, the Redbox and Movie Box, those help-yourself (a dollar per rental) kiosk show up in McDonald, Walgreens, grocery stores, and people like it because it’s both cheap and convenient. But they also add salt to the injury of Blockbuster.