NEW YORK – Charlie Ergen‘s Dish Network and Carl Icahn are among those that have submitted bids for video rental firm Blockbuster ahead of a bankruptcy court auction next week, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
A Dish spokesman declined comment. Icahn has been holding a Blockbuster stake for a while and has been looking at acquiring control.
Bids were due Thursday evening, according to the Journal, as the company was looking for expressions of interest beyond a group of financial companies that hold a chunk of Blockbuster debt and offered to buy Blockbuster for about $290 million, which set the low end of the price range in the auction.
The auction is set for Monday in a federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.
South Korean mobile phone operator SK Telecom has also said it is mulling a bid. Financial firms are also believed to have been looking at the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the fall.
The Journal said suitors just made minimum bids to qualify for Monday’s auction, with bids not more than about $296 million.
