Blockbuster Said to Hire Kirkland & Ellis for Bankruptcy Advice 4 minutes ago
Blockbuster Said to Hire Kirkland & Ellis for Bankruptcy Advice
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By Tiffany Kary
March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Blockbuster Inc., the world’s largest movie-rental chain, hired legal counsel to explore a possible bankruptcy filing, a person familiar with the situation said.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP was asked to evaluate restructuring options for the company, which may include a “pre-packaged” or “pre-arranged bankruptcy,” in which much of the restructuring work is completed out of court, the person said. A pre-packaged filing is more advanced than a pre-arranged bankruptcy as it includes agreements from creditors about the outcome of the company’s reorganization.
Dallas-based Blockbuster, with more than 7,500 stores in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, has been struggling to compete with Netflix Inc., the largest U.S. mail-order movie service. Blockbuster has expanded its digital library of movies and made them available on mobile phones and Web-connected TVs. It plans to offer 90,000 DVD titles by mail, according to the company’s Web site. Blockbuster spokeswoman Karen Raskopf declined to immediately comment.
On Jan. 14, the company announced a partnership with Novato- California-based Sonic Solutions Inc., a digital video publishing company, to combine libraries and give customers immediate access to movies. It also recently released a media player the size of a cable box that downloads movies for viewing on television.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tiffany Kary in New York Bankruptcy Court at tkary@bloomberg.net.
