Blockbuster Video

Blockbuster Video opened its first store in Texas in 1985 and now boasts that it has an outlet no more than 10 minutes' drive away from every main suburb in the US.

It is owned by media giant Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures and MTV. Viacom, makers of the biggest grossing film in history, Titanic, bought it in 1994 for US$8 billion (HK$62 billion).

Blockbuster's push into the global market, a key business strategy, then became relentless. It now has outlets in 26 countries.

Five stores opened in Taipei in March 1997 just before an announcement that earnings had dropped by 20 per cent.

Blockbuster now has a 30 per cent share of the market in the US. But it has been rumoured that Viacom may sell off Blockbuster later this year.