https://www.netflix.com/title/81354557

In 2000, the CEO of Blockbuster Video had the chance to buy Netflix for $50m. Instead, a new book says, the best he could do was not laugh them out of the room.

Marc Randolph, the co-founder and first CEO of the streaming service, recalls the disastrous meeting in his new book, That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea.

Today Netflix takes in almost $30bn per year in revenue, and Blockbuster is no more (except for one franchise store in Bend, Oregon). But 22 years ago, Blockbuster still dominated the video rental industry, and Netflix was a fledgling start-up, physically mailing DVDs to customers and struggling to survive the dot-com crash. Desperate for cash to shore up their business, Mr Randolph and fellow co-founder Reed Hastings came up with a Hail Mary idea: Blockbuster could buy them out.

After months of trying to arrange a meeting, Netflix heard back from Blockbuster. The video giant’s leadership would meet with them the next morning, in Dallas, Texas – and Mr Randolph and Mr Hastings were in California. Undeterred, they chartered a private plane for 5am the next morning, and got to Blockbuster’s headquarters on time.