John F. Antioco

JOHN F. ANTIOCO is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blockbuster
Inc., the world’s leading provider of rentable home entertainment with
$5 billion in annual worldwide revenues and almost 8,000 stores
throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Blockbuster is a
publicly traded subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the
world’s largest entertainment and media companies and a leader in
production, promotion and distribution of entertainment news, sports and
music. Mr. Antioco began his career in 1970 as a Management Trainee for
the 7-Eleven convenience store chain. During his 20 years at the
company, he held a number of senior management positions, including
Senior Vice President of store operations for the 8,000-outlet-chain
with responsibility for all operations and marketing. In 1990, Mr.
Antioco became the Chief Operating Officer of Pearle Vision a retail
eyeglass chain, then a division of the British-based Grand Metropolitan
PLC. Within two years, Mr. Antioco was recruited to serve as Chief
Operating Officer for Circle K Corporation, the nation’s largest
operator of company-owned convenience stores. During his six-year tenure
with Circle K, he engineered the company out of Chapter 11, was named
chairman and CEO, and organized a management-led leveraged buy-out for
$400 million, creating a highly successful 2,500-store privately held
chain. In 1995, he took the company public with an initial public
offering (IPO), and in 1996, less than three years after the LBO,
oversaw Circle K’s merger with Tosco Corporation with the company being
valued at $1 billion. In 1996, Mr. Antioco went on to accept the
position as President and CEO for Taco Bell Corporation, a division of
PepsiCo, the nation’s largest quick-service Mexican restaurant chain
with 7,000 outlets in the United States and annual sales of
approximately $5 billion. During his tenure with Taco Bell, Mr. Antioco
reversed three years of negative sales trends through the introduction
of a new menu, a new ad campaign and new franchising strategy. In 1997,
he joined Blockbuster Inc. as Chairman and CEO and led the financial
turnaround of the company, introducing numerous marketing and
operational initiatives. Under Mr. Antioco’s direction, Blockbuster
underwent a successful IPO in August 1999 and has completed its fourth
consecutive year of same-store sales increases. Mr. Antioco is now
overseeing the company’s evolution from a retail-only powerhouse into a
leading provider of all forms of home entertainment. Mr. Antioco holds a
degree in Business Administration from the New York Institute of
Technology. He has been named to Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 101
most powerful people in the entertainment industry and has received the
DeMateius Humanitarian Award from St. Vincent’s Services. He serves on
the Board for the American Film Institute and on the National Board of
Governors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, an organization he has
actively supported since 1991, serving as Chairman for the 2000 National
Conference.