Redbox is the latest home video rental enterprise to bite the dust.
A little over a week after its parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy, the DVD kiosk-rental business — often seen at gas stations, convenience stores and in supermarket entrances — is shutting down.
Roughly 1,000 employees will reportedly lose their jobs without any severance or extended benefits, according to Variety.
Chicken Soup for the Soul — the Connecticut-based conglomerate known for its namesake series of self-help books, ad-supported streaming services (like Crackle) and pet food — acquired Redbox in 2022.
Redbox was reportedly $325 million in debt at the time of the acquisition. The merger was touted as the start of an entertainment business set to reach consumers across mediums and boost revenue.
But under the leadership of former chairman and CEO William Rouhana, Chicken Soup for the Soul was reportedly nearing $1 billion in debt and owed millions of dollars to multiple companies when it filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in Wilmington, Delaware, late last month.
Rouhana, who controls roughly 80% of the company’s shares, was accused of misuse of funds, and failing to pay workers for over a month before being replaced by Bart M. Schwartz on July 1.
The end of Redbox follows Netflix scrapping its groundbreaking DVD-by-mail service last year, and the downfall of the behemoth Blockbuster Video, which filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
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