In a financial filing on September 13th Blockbuster disclosed the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Thomas Casey. The resignation of Casey, whose employment contract was amended on September 7 to include additional severance compensation, was effective at the end of business on September 11th. The Dallas-based Blockbuster has hired Douglas McGill to serve as EVP and CFO.
The troubled video rental chain has been struggling with nearly a billion dollars in debt. According to Home Media Magazine, Casey’s departure provides “further credence to previous reports that Blockbuster intends to file for bankruptcy sometime this month” (see “Blockbuster to File Chapter 11”).
The giant video chain wants to file a pre-packaged bankruptcy, but could be having trouble getting the approval of its bondholders for its restructuring plans. As Edward Woo, an industry analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, put it: “It’s obviously not a good sign that in this very difficult and challenging time, for Blockbuster to lose its CFO.”