According to the deal, TiVo users will be able to rent Blockbuster’s 10,000 titles for $1.99 and $3.99, and purchase movies for between $14.99 and $19.99. Blockbuster will also sell Tivo DVRs in its stores and on its Web site.

The move shows Blockbuster is starting to understand what Netflix and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) have all along: It’s cheaper and more profitable to chase the customer instead of building stores and waiting for the customer to walk in during business hours.

It’s also the second time Netflix beat them to the punch. Its top rival began renting films on TiVo last year and has developed streaming video on its Web site and through Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 video game console.

This time – unlike Netflix – Blockbuster’s TiVo offerings will be available a few weeks after they arrive in rental stores, but before they reach pay-per-view audiences.

“You will see us in a large number of other devices going forward,” Kevin Lewis, senior vice president of digital entertainment at Blockbuster, said.

Lewis added that the company also plans to sell its movies via Apple Inc’s (AAPL) products.

“We need to be in the normal places that consumers want to watch movies,” he said.

Shareholders Happy… For Now

More than ever, Blockbuster needs a better business model – and fast. Last quarter, the movie-rental chain posted a net loss of  $359.8 million, or $1.89 per diluted share, while taking a $435 million non-cash charge “for the impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets.”

Blockbuster’s shares dipped as low as 13 cents early this month when a report surfaced that the company hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to advise a possible bankruptcy filing.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Keyes didn’t refute the report outright, but rather misdirected it, saying that bankruptcy is “not our objective,” Bloomberg reported.

“We have retained expertise both on the legal side and the investment-banking side to very aggressively pursue our refinancing alternatives,” Keyes said.

Keys said he has support from his investors, including Mark Wattles, founder of rival Hollywood Entertainment Corp., who took a 5.7% equity stake in Blockbuster as a sign of his confidence in the industry and Blockbuster’s financial stability.

“I was pleased to find he is a strong believer in our industry,” Keyes said. “We didn’t have any strategic discussions. He just emphasized his confidence in the direction of the company.”

But there’s one shareholder who demands that his actions and opinions about the company’s direction be watched: Billionaire Carl Icahn, who owns an 8.7% stake in Blockbuster, making him the company’s largest shareholder.

Icahn famously, and successfully, led the charge to dethrone Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) co-founder Jerry Yang from his job as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Icahn – upset with Yang’s performance – threatened to seek control of the board and resuscitate takeover talks with Microsoft.

Icahn ultimately won the battle, with Yang stepping down and Yahoo selecting Carol Bartz, chairwoman of Autodesk Inc. (ADSK), as his replacement a few months later.

Icahn did not get his ultimate wish, however, as Microsoft did not succeed in taking the company over.

Source: Blockbuster Teams with TiVo Go Global to Escape Extinction

Bartz served as Autodesk’s president and CEO for 14 years before stepping down from the post in April 2006. She remained chairwoman, and will continue in that role until Autodesk fills the position.

“We are very excited to have Carol Bartz leading Yahoo into its next era of growth. She is the exact combination of seasoned technology executive and savvy leader that the Board was looking for, and we are thrilled to have attracted such a world-class talent to Yahoo,” Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement.

“The Board is united in its view that her energetic and decisive leadership style, coupled with a proven track record of driving growth, operational excellence and shareholder value, is exactly what Yahoo! needs to get back on a path toward achieving its full potential,” he added.

Yahoo President Susan Decker, who had been a candidate for the CEO position, will resign after a transition period, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company said in a statement.

Yahoo’s news release was quick to mention that Autodesk’s revenue nearly quadrupled and stock value increased almost ten-fold during Bartz’ tenure.

Both issues are thorns in the side of disgruntled Yahoo shareholders, especially billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who publicly chastised Yang for passing on a $47.5 billion, or $33 a share, acquisition offer from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).

Yahoo’s profits have fallen 10 of the past 11 quarters, and its shares have fallen more than 60% from their 52-week high of $30.25 a share. Still, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is open to a partnership with Yahoo.

Bartz said she’s looking forward to take Yahoo “to the next level.”

“There is no denying that Yahoo has faced enormous challenges over the last year, but I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity to create value for our shareholders and new possibilities for our customers, partners and employees,” she said. “We will seize that opportunity.”

While few candidates have as much executive experience – especially in Silicon Valley – as Bartz, some question whether she has the right experience for the job.

“She seems to me to be more of a builder than a buyer-and-flipper,” Needham & Co analyst Richard Davis told Reuters. “I’m sure that plenty of people wanted to buy Autodesk over the years.”

Bartz didn’t get into specific plans during a conference call. And Ralph Whitworth, founder of San Diego-based Relational Investors LLC, which bought 9.2 million Yahoo shares in the third quarter of last year, said he’s expecting transparency and speediness.

“There’s high expectations and low patience,” Whitworth told Bloomberg. “I would say within the next 90 days, there should be clear direction.”

Source: Yahoo Names Carol Bartz New CEO

This from Investment U:

Look at every investment disaster individual investors have endured throughout history and the cause is virtually always the same. They neglected to ask a simple question: What if I’m wrong?

• Take the guy whose retirement account is loaded up with shares of one company, the same one he works for. He exposes himself to a career downturn and an investment disaster at the same time. He forgets to ask, “What if I’m wrong?”

• Or the woman who buys an investment property in a hot market, taking out a mortgage she can barely afford. What if she’s wrong?

• Take the trader who loads up on call options, trades heavily on margin or bets the farm on the bull market in oil continuing. What if he’s wrong?

Of course, every investor can be wrong. We all are occasionally. Successful investing is about taking – and intelligently managing – risk.

We Know The Future Is Unknowable At Investment U

We at Investment U are well aware that to a large extent the future is unknowable. So despite our well laid plans, we always hedge our bets.

That means buying quality, diversifying broadly and running trailing stops behind each of our individual stock positions. Anyone who has done that over the past 12 months is miles ahead of the average investor.

As the old saying goes, “The winner in a bull market is he who makes the most. The winner in a bear market is he who loses the least.”

Although we’re in a bear market now, the time has already come to start looking ahead.  Investment legends like Warren Buffett and Mark Mobius know this. (They have the benefit of a well-informed investment perspective.) Your average talking head, apparently, does not.

For instance, there have been six major bear markets over the past 80 years. The average decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of the previous five disasters – from peak to trough – was 43%.

That’s just about the low point of the current bear market. Unless we’re about to enter a “Greater Depression,” we’re a lot closer to the bottom than the top.

Scared Investors Are Missing the Easy Investment Opportunities

And there are investment opportunities galore, although most investors are too scared to move on much of anything.

• Many of them are tucked safely away in T-bills, where they can sleep soundly at night. But is the purpose of your investment portfolio to provide for you and your family in retirement or is it to play Brahms’ Lullaby?

• Many of these investors have deluded themselves that they will wait until the coast is clear of any investment disasters and then safely re-enter the market down the road.

In other words, having failed to see the top of the market – like 99.9% of all investors – they are now confident they can pick the bottom.

What if they’re wrong? What if the market is already discounting a severe recession? They run the risk of sitting in cash, collecting a pittance, when the market starts to rally again in earnest.

13 Companies At Bargain Basement Levels – For Starters

Meanwhile, there are plenty of companies out there trading at bargain basement levels. If you don’t have much faith in near-term earnings, try a different tack. Buy a few companies that are loaded with cash.

Which ones? Well, for starters, there is:

• AutoDesk (NASDAQ:ADSK)

• Amdocs (NYSE:DOX)

• Dell (NASDAQ:DELL)

• Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE)

• Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ:FWLT)

• NCR (NYSE:NCR)

• Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

• BMC Software (NYSE:BMC)

• McDermott International (NYSE:MDR)

• Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ)

• Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

• Nike (NYSE:NKE)

What if I’m wrong? What if these cash-rich companies go down in the near future, too?

That’s always a possibility.

Limit Your Downside Risk With Trailing Stops

But if you use our recommended 25% trailing stop, you’re not just buying cheap… you’re strictly limiting your downside risk.

The investor holed up in cash, on the other hand, is earning a meager 2% or so on his money.   He may not reach his investment goals. But he sleeps well… and he feels safe.

What if he’s wrong?

Source: What If You’re Wrong?