Who Owns Redbox Company (and What’s Left of the Machines)?

If you’ve walked past a grocery store entrance recently and seen a lonely, dark-screened machine gathering dust, you’ve seen the remains of a billion-dollar empire. It’s weird. A few years ago, Redbox was the king of Friday night plans. Now, finding out who owns Redbox company is less about checking a stock ticker and more like reading a messy autopsy report.

Honestly, the short answer is: nobody really owns it anymore because the company doesn't exist. Redbox is dead. It isn't just "struggling" or "in transition." It was liquidated. Every asset, from the DVD inside the machine to the physical red metal shells, has been tossed into a fire sale to pay off nearly $1 billion in debt. To understand how we got to this ghost-town status, you have to look at the spectacular collapse of its final parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE).

The Messy End of the Redbox Era

In the summer of 2024, everything officially imploded. For years, people assumed Redbox was just slowly fading away because of Netflix and Disney+, but the end was much more violent than a slow fade.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment—yes, the company that started with the inspirational books—bought Redbox in 2022. It seemed like a bold move at the time. They paid about $375 million, but the catch was that they also inherited a mountain of debt. It was a gamble that physical media still had enough gas in the tank to fund a streaming revolution. It didn't.

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By June 2024, CSSE filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But things got ugly, fast. A judge eventually got fed up with the "massive mismanagement" (his words, not mine) and converted the case to Chapter 7.

Chapter 7 is the "game over" button in the legal world. It means the company stopped trying to save itself and started selling everything for parts. By the time 2025 rolled around, the liquidation was basically complete. A bankruptcy trustee, George L. Miller, took the wheel to scrap the remains. So, if you’re asking who owns Redbox company in 2026, the technical answer is a court-appointed trustee overseeing a pile of debt and a few thousand abandoned kiosks.

Who Actually Owned Redbox Over the Years?

The "who owns Redbox" question is a bit of a trip because the company has been passed around like a hot potato. It’s had more lives than a cat, but it finally ran out of them.

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1. The McDonald’s Years (2002–2005): Believe it or not, Redbox started inside McDonald’s. They wanted to see if they could use kiosks to sell things like butter and milk. When that failed, they tried DVDs. It worked.
2. The Coinstar/Outerwall Era (2005–2016): Coinstar saw the potential and bought in. Eventually, they owned the whole thing and rebranded the parent company as Outerwall. This was the peak. Redbox was everywhere.
3. The Apollo Global Management Era (2016–2021): Private equity stepped in. Apollo took the company private for $1.6 billion. They squeezed a lot of cash out of it but knew the clock was ticking on DVDs.
4. The SPAC/Public Blip (2021–2022): Redbox went public on its own for a minute via a SPAC merger (RDBX). The stock became a "meme stock" for a few weeks before reality set in.
5. The Chicken Soup for the Soul Era (2022–2024): The final chapter. CSSE bought it, it didn't work, and they went bankrupt with $970 million in debt.

Why You Still See the Kiosks

You might be thinking, "Wait, if nobody owns it, why is there still a machine at my Walmart?"

That’s where it gets kinda funny, and also a little sad. There are still thousands of kiosks out there. In many cases, the stores where they sit—Walgreens, CVS, Walmart—are basically stuck with them. Because the company is liquidated and the employees are gone, there’s no one to come pick up the 900-pound metal boxes.

Some retailers have actually petitioned the bankruptcy court for permission to just throw them away. In other cases, they’re just sitting there, disconnected from the internet, holding onto movies like The Beekeeper or Barbie that will never be rented again.

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What Most People Get Wrong About the Ownership

There’s a huge misconception that the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book company is bankrupt.

It’s not. The book side of the business, Chicken Soup for the Soul LLC, is a separate entity and is still doing fine. It was the "Entertainment" arm (the one that bought Redbox and Crackle) that went under. If you go buy a book today about "101 Stories of Hope," your money isn't going to a bankruptcy court. But if you were a Redbox employee who lost their health insurance and didn't get paid for weeks during the 2024 collapse, you're likely part of the massive lawsuit currently targeting the former executives.

Actionable Insights: What Happens Now?

If you were a fan of the kiosks or a former customer, here is the "real world" status of Redbox today:

• Don't try to use the app: The Redbox streaming service and app are defunct. If you have "digital copies" purchased through their old service, they are likely gone forever.
• Don't bother returning discs: If you still have a Redbox DVD from 2024, you basically just bought it. There is no functioning system to process the return, and the company that would charge your card is out of business.
• The Brand is for Sale: While the company is dead, the Redbox brand name and its patents were put up for auction. We might see a "Redbox" streaming channel pop up later under new ownership (like how brands like Blockbuster or RadioShack occasionally get revived by tech companies), but the kiosks are done.
• Check for Refunds via Your Bank: If you were charged for a service you didn't receive during the 2024 bankruptcy, don't wait for the company to mail you a check. They have $25,000 in the bank and owe $970 million. Contact your credit card company instead.

The era of the $1 rental is officially over. The "Redbox" we knew is just a piece of nostalgia now, sitting in a landfill or a grocery store corner, waiting for someone to finally unplug it.