NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Bankrupt home video chain Blockbuster put itself up for sale Monday, saying it has received an offer of $290 million dollars for the business.
Blockbuster said it filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York that asks for authorization to start an auction process, for which it already has an opening bid.
The $290 million initial offer was made by an investor group consisting of Monarch Alternative Capital, Owl Creek Asset Management, Stonehill Capital Management and Värde Partners, all of which are creditors of the once mighty chain.
The movie rental store's U.S. businesses filed for Chapter 11 protection in September, hoping to sharply reduce their nearly $1 billion debt.
"By initiating a sale process at this time, we intend to accelerate our Chapter 11 proceedings and move the company forward," CEO Jim Keyes said in a statement. "An auction will allow the company to invite competing bids from both strategic and financial investors."
If the auction proposal is accepted by the court, additional offers will be accepted for 30 days, and a final sale would take place before April 20.
Normal store operations will continue during the sale, the company said.
Blockbuster has struggled for survival ever since media conglomerate Viacom spun off the company in 2004. As a part of the deal, the company had to pay Viacom shareholders a $5 per-share dividend, and the movie rental giant racked up about $1 billion of debt in the process.
The company also suffered losses from unprofitable stores and increased competition from both Netflix (NFLX) and Coinstar's (CSTR) Redbox. 
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,454.83 | -74.92 | -0.60% |
| Nasdaq | 2,837.53 | -1.85 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,317.82 | -2.86 | -0.22% |
| Treasuries | 1.74 | -0.01 | -0.80% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.15 | 0.01 | 0.14% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.62 | 0.09 | 3.56% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 16.33 | -0.06 | -0.37% |
| Chesapeake Energy Co... | 15.81 | 0.23 | 1.48% |
| Ford Motor Co | 10.60 | 0.01 | 0.09% |
|
The Senate hearing will focus JPMorgan's recent $2 billion trading loss, which Dimon announced earlier this month. More |
The offer for mail handlers is part of the Postal Service's plan to cut 150,000 jobs by 2015. More |
In the whirlwind of its IPO fallout, there has been a sort of glee in watching the company stumble. What's driving the Facebook-schadenfreude and what can the social network do about it? More |
One in six children in the United States is obese. These small businesses have found creative -- and lucrative -- ways to fight the childhood obesity epidemic. More |
In Harper County, Kansas, oil companies are offering farmers up to $1,250 an acre for the mineral rights that allow them to drill for oil on their property. More |
.
