Richmond, Va. - In an aggressive move to expand beyond movie rentals, Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) on Monday said that it has made an unsolicited $1 billion takeover bid for Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC), the Virginia-based nationwide electronics retailer. Blockbuster said that it originally made the offer two months ago in a letter to Philip Schoonover, the chairman and CEO of Circuit City, but decided to make the news public because it "believes the shareholders of Circuit City should have the opportunity to participate in determining the destiny of the company."

Circuit City said in a statement that it plans to continue evaluating the offer that would give stockholders a minimum of $6 a share.

Blockbuster said that the combination would create an $18 billion company that could capitalize on the "growing convergence of media content and electronic devices."

Related links:
http://newsroom.circuitcity.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=304396

http://blockbuster.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=760