Photo by Cameron Bunney on Unsplash
Redbox Shutting Down DVD Rental Kiosk Business
July 12, 2024
Redbox is shutting down its DVD rental kiosks. The red machines have been a mainstay for film viewers for over two decades.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Redbox’s parent company, converted its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding on Wednesday, June 10. Therefore, Redbox will officially close after 22 years.
Redbox was reportedly $325 million in debt at the time of its 2020 acquisition by Chicken Soup for the Soul. The merger was touted as the start of an entertainment business that would reach consumers across mediums and boost revenue.
Deadline reports that the company secured a $8 million “debtor in possession” loan designed to help it resume paying workers after nearly a month without paychecks and restore their medical benefits. “It’s not a position that any of us want to be in,” Richard Pachulski, a Chicken Soup lawyer, said in a statement published by Deadline.
DVD rental service Redbox is set to shut down after 22 years in business. https://t.co/yDdrv1M7Fq
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 12, 2024
The bankruptcy liquidation will shut down Redbox’s network of 24,000 DVD rental kiosks in nationwide retailers and leave approximately 1,000 employees without jobs, reports The Wall Street Journal. “Based on allegations we’ve heard, it’s important that a Chapter 7 trustee be appointed and undertake an appropriate investigation of the company,” said Horan, per the Wall Street Journal. He continued, “1,000 people are about to lose their jobs, and they’re not even going to be paid for work that they did.”
According to The Seattle Times, the company’s lenders “attempted to work out an emergency loan to cover employees’ back pay.” However, Pachulski revealed that the company’s employees have not been paid for work from June 29 through the present.
Redbox’s shuttering means that yet another fixture of physical media is gone. With most movies either being sent directly to theaters or streaming services, the days are gone when a customer could hold a product in their hand while deciding whether or not to purchase it.
It is unknown when the actual kiosks will stop operating.
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