The boss: Philip J. Schoonover, chairman, president and chief executive of Circuit City Stores Inc., joined the retailer in October 2004 as executive vice president. He was elected president in February 2005, chief executive in March 2006 and chairman in June 2006. Before that he was executive vice president at Best Buy Co. Inc.
The dissident: Mark J. Wattles owns 6.5 percent of Circuit City's stock. This year he asked shareholders to approve a slate of five directors and for the board to fire Schoonover. Wattles is president of Wattles Capital Management LLC and owns the 32-store Ultimate Electronics chain.
The suitor: Blockbuster Inc. has more than 7,800 stores in the United States and 21 other countries. It operates 3,900 in the U.S., including 98 in Virginia and 18 in the Richmond-Petersburg market. The company had sales of $5.54 billion for the fiscal year that ended Jan. 6, up 0.3 percent from the previous year.
The dealmaker: Carl Icahn, Blockbuster's largest shareholder with a stake of more than 10 percent, was elected to the video chain's board in May 2005. In 2005, the billionaire investor tried, and failed, to acquire the Hollywood Video chain, which Mark Wattles founded.