This month Warren Lieberfarb got an unwelcome Christmas present: a pink slip. The man from Warner who was central to the establishment of DVD and subsequently its chief cheerleader was let go due to what some accounts call a clash with the top.

The timing of the WB move is especially interesting given the recent success Lieberfarb enjoyed with his strongly anti-Blockbuster “price to own” strategy. Just over a week ago, Blockbuster’s stock plummeted as the company met with strong resistance in its efforts to increase retail sales at the store.

Small wonder. On a recent visit to my Blockbuster, newly reconfigured to feature a prominent red “to buy” section, the prices were anything but competitive. A copy of Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain was $12.99 used and $24.99 new — a stunningly poor value in contrast to the $14.44 Target price for the new disc.

So is the Lieberfarb loss Blockbuster’s gain? Time (and the market) will tell.

Still to come: cousin Josh‘s thoughts on renting v. buying, and a bit on the “first sale” doctrine.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 28th, 2002 at 4:00 am and is filed under Film.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.