The Untold Truth Of Blockbuster

April 2024 · 2 minute read

Although Blockbuster was likely the gateway to discovering many of your favorite films, its founder was less interested in movies than he was in building enormous databases and solving complicated problems, according to CNN. In 1978, David Cook started Cook Data Services, a company that made software for oil and gas companies, for prices as high as $120,000. The business took off: it more than doubled its sales every year for the first five years. In February 1983, Cook took the company public, raising $8.4 million in the initial public offering (IPO — when a company allows the public to buy its shares.)

But just six months later, the business's value dropped. A surplus of oil meant prices plummeted, and oil companies started looking for ways to reduce their expenses, which meant no more splurging on fancy software. Cook Data Services' sales took a nosedive — but to make matters worse, they'd been on a hiring and office-leasing spree, preparing for the planned post-IPO expansion.

Having appraised the situation, Cook made a risky decision. Rather than sink the $8.4 million into the now struggling company, he decided to put it toward a new business. As he told Inc. in 1987, he was looking for, "a fragmented market without dominant players, a business that could be set up on a local basis... where we could throw up some competitive barriers." He found it in video rentals.

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