Hey, stackers.

Bet you didn't expect to hear my voice on a Saturday, did you?

But good news, I've got a special treat for you.

I'm going to introduce you to a new show coming for our friends at Wondery called Business

Wars.

It's stories of big money, big egos, a lot of people fighting for control of huge corporate

industries, kind of like those infamous wars between Coke and Pepsi, McDonald's and Burger King,

small businesses across the landscape, just trying to survive some pretty intense competition

with their local rivals. So in this first episode of Business Wars, former marketplace

anchor David Brown, he's going to take us inside one of the most crushing corporate wars. You might remember this one.

It pits Blockbuster Video against Netflix as that entire landscape, a home entertainment, is shifting.

And of course, the iconic company, Blockbuster Video, isn't going to go down with Out of Fight.

Today, I'd like to show you the beginning of the story. And don't forget to subscribe to Business Wars on Apple Podcast or wherever you're hearing my voice.

Here we go.

From Wondering, this is Business Wars.

I'm David Brown. It was January 2007, Park City, Utah.

The place was packed with independent filmmakers, hoping to find distributors at the Sundance Film Festival.

John Antioco, the CEO of Blockbuster, peered out the windshield of his rented Cadillac

Escalade at the ski chalais, stacked up the mountainside.

Antioch was then in his late 50s, with a wreath of salt and pepper hair and an aquiline nose

that made him look like a short boxer or a Roman emperor. He can't remember what he wore that

Sunday afternoon, but he favored plain starched white shirts, open-necked with a blue blazer and slacks. His mood was confident, exultant even,

...