Coinstar Buys Rest of DVD Kiosk Firm Redbox for Up to $176M

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 13, 2009 - 8:28am.

Bellevue, Wash. - Coinstar (NASD: CSTR), the operator of a network of self-service coin counting and other machines in public places, announced that it will purchase the remaining stake in DVD rental kiosk firm Redbox that it does not already own, in a deal valued at up to $176 million.

The company will pay McDonalds' affiliate GetAMovie $10 million in cash, and a total consideration of between $134 million and $151 million for its Redbox stake, and up to $25 million to other shareholders for their stakes.

Redbox counts 35 million unique customers from its 12,000 kiosk locations in grocery and drug stores, Walmart and McDonald's locations.

The deal comes as Redbox finds itself embroiled in a lawsuit with Universal Studios over distribution of its films in Redbox kiosks; Redbox sued Universal for alleged violation of antitrust laws and misuse of copyrights.

http://snipurl.com/btxmi (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.coinstar.com

http://www.redbox.com