Did You Lose Money on Blockbuster? If So, It Didn't Have to Happen

[Published February 10, 2011]

Today, Blockbuster announced the intent to put itself up for auction, after bondholders were in disagreement about continued financing.

Carl Icahn finds himself once again in the midst of a rush to sweep up the crumbs from a company he had a large part in destroying, this time through negligence.

I have discussed the demise of Blockbuster a few times in the past, beginning with an article I wrote several years ago. I even provided a trading and fundamental analysis of the company in the Wall Street Investment Bible.

I also wrote about the Netflix-Blockbuster long-short trade two years ago.

I followed this up with another article a few months later.

If investors had acted on my analysis, they would have not only avoided holding a stock that would later file for bankruptcy protection, they would have also made huge gains through the long-short strategy I recommended using Netflix and Blockbuster.

This adds to long list of examples I have documented that demonstrate why it’s so important to align yourself with resources and individuals that can add to your investment insight and skills.

If you are not aligned with these resources, you stand a very poor chance of doing well as an investor. Those who fail to realize this by now, you probably never will.