Love & Wisdom
Most Influential: CEO Paul Davis
Coinstar CEO Paul Davis spent much of 2009 fighting legal battles with movie studios
By Sharon M. Baker December 31, 1969
Penny-pinching consumers looking for cheap entertainment have flocked to Redbox DVD-rental vending machines and, in a year’s time, catapulted Bellevue-based Coinstar—Redbox’s parent company—onto the corporate big screen. Earlier this year, Redbox—originally a creation of McDonald’s but acquired by Coinstar last year—had grabbed 25 percent of U.S. video-rental sales, up from 18 percent a year earlier, according to NPD Group, a market research firm. Redbox’s growth brought Coinstar’s annual revenue to more than $1 billion.
That’s double the revenue flow of several years ago, when Coinstar was casting about for a growth strategy as its coin-counting business slowed. Coinstar invested heavily in rolling out the now-familiar red kiosks, placing them in stores consumers visit regularly, such as Fred Meyer, Walmart, Walgreens and 7-Eleven. Now with more than 24,000 locations nationwide, Redbox has helped Coinstar jump from obscurity to prominence at the speed of Hollywood’s bright light. The journey hasn’t been entirely easy. Coinstar CEO Paul Davis spent much of 2009 fighting legal battles with movie studios that feared Redbox’s $1 rentals were eroding DVD sales. Redbox settled those disputes by generally agreeing to wait four weeks from the release of a DVD before putting it into its boxes. (Deals in place with other studios continue to provide titles as soon as the DVDS are released.)
In September, Fortune magazine recognized Coinstar as one of the nation’s 100 fastest-growing companies, citing Redbox’s growth and its interest in online streaming to compete with Netflix. Acknowleding the honor, Davis says, “Coinstar is committed to innovation in the automated retail space, and we’re excited to see our growth recognized.”
Published November 2010
More articles from our Most Influential issue
Person of the Year: The Police Officer
Most Influential: Bill Gates Sr.
Most Influential: Partners on the Cascadia Center
Most Influential: Dave Ross and Tom Douglas
Most Influential: Group Health Cooperative
Most Influential: Hanson Hosein
Most Influential: Football player Jake Locker
Most Influential: F5 Networks CEO John McAdam
Most Influential: Activist Keli Carender
Most Influential: Founder Kim O’Donnel
Most Influential: Broker Laura Miller
Most Influential: Seattle Storm Lauren Jackson
Most Influential: Consultant Mike Donlin
Most Influential: Mike McGinn and Dow Constantine
Most Influential: M.D. and CEO Mitchell Gold
Most Influential: Ones to Watch
Most Influential: Our Selection Panel
Most Influential: CEO Paul Davis
Most Influential: Robb Hunt and Steve Tomkins
Most Influential: Sandra Jackson-Dumont
Most Influential: Speight Jenkins
Most Influential: King-5 News Susannah Frame
Most Influential: Co-founder Tad McGeer
Most Influential: The Seattle Times Staff
Most Influential: Real Change’s Tim Harris
Most Influential: Senator Tracey Eide
Most Influential: Zoran Popovic and David Baker