What the room could see
Netflix arrived as a young DVD-by-mail business looking for a larger partner, while Blockbuster already had the stores, customers, and name recognition. Marc Randolph recalls a combined strategy in which Netflix would support the online side and says a $50 million sale was proposed; that account describes a possibility, not a completed negotiation.
Where the record divides
Former Blockbuster chief John Antioco later said there were no serious acquisition talks and characterized any sale suggestion as informal. With no signed offer in the cited record, the responsible conclusion is simply that a meeting and strategic conversation occurred and that the participants remember its formality differently.