Headlines

Leaving Hollywood

Video rental retailer’s founder resigns in the midst of takeover struggle with Blockbuster and Movie Gallery

Published

19 years ago

February 4, 2005

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One day after Blockbuster Inc. (Dallas) increased its hostile takeover offer for Hollywood Entertainment Corp. (Wilsonville, Ore.), Mark Wattles, Hollywood’s chairman and ceo, resigned from the company.

Wattles, who founded Hollywood Entertainment, had agreed last summer to take the company private with the help of a Los Angeles buyout firm. But the Hollywood board has responded to shareholder pressure to listen to competing bids, from Blockbuster and Movie Gallery (Dothan, Ala.).

Hollywood’s board has appointed F. Bruce Giesbrecht, currently Hollywood’s president and coo, as ceo. No replacement was named to serve as chairman.

Hollywood’s board also stated that yesterday’s sweetened offer from Blockbuster was being considered by a special committee of the board and would respond on or before Feb. 17, 2005.

Wattles founded Hollywood in 1987 in Portland, Ore., modeling his first store directly after Blockbuster, which had been founded just two years earlier. He was successful at scouting prime locations in many cities and beating Blockbuster to them.

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