Redbox Gains ‘Scale,’ Access to Capital via Chicken Soup Deal: CEO

The Redbox Entertainment “legacy business” of 38,000 DVD-rental kiosks “still has tremendous reach and power for consumers looking for the ultimate value,” said CEO Galen Smith, appearing on Thursday’s Q1 earnings call of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment to discuss its proposed $375 million Redbox buy (see 2205110051). Redbox has been “investing heavily” in recent years to transform the company into a “multi-window multifaceted digital entertainment company,” said Smith. But COVID-19 “severely impacted” the Redbox kiosk business when it forced studios to release content on streaming platforms or delay movies “completely outright,” he said. The expected recovery has taken “longer than we expected,” and has “hampered our ability to invest in the digital transformation,” he said. “Joining forces” with CSSE will give Redbox “much needed scale,” plus access to capital, to “power” the digital transformation, “something we couldn’t do on our own,” he said.