At the same time, Blockbuster bought more shares of Discovery Zone giving it 50.1% of the stock. Under the leadership of then CEO Don Flynn, in July 1994, Discovery Zone bought 45 Leaps and Bounds stores from McDonald's for $111 million in stock and 57 franchised stores from Blockbuster Video for $91 million in stock bringing the total stores to almost 300. Discovery Zone filed for bankruptcy shortly after. He told numerous college students at the 1995 annual meeting how 'solid' an investment this would be. Sumner Redstone managed to shift the assets to Blockbuster and move operations to Chicago. In 1994, Discovery Zone merged its operations with Blockbuster Video and its (now former) parent Viacom.

ĭiscovery Zone completed a successful IPO in June 1993 (led by Chris Bellios, Sam Jeremenko and Steven Noe) raising over $50 million. The stock rose 61% in the first day of trading. In June 1993, Discovery Zone raised $55 million more when it went public on NASDAQ. In April 1993, Blockbuster Video invested $10.3 million into Discovery Zone to purchase 21% of the company. A second location was added in Florence, Kentucky, at the Florence Mall on July 23, 2021.įounded in 1989, Discovery Zone grew quickly, opening 15 stores in 18 months.

In 2020, a new center using the Discovery Zone name opened in the Cincinnati suburb of Union Township, Ohio it is not affiliated with the original company, but is heavily inspired by it. ĭiscovery Zone was also notable for being the first corporate sponsor of the PBS children’s program Sesame Street. An early investor in and vocal supporter of the company was tennis player Billie Jean King. David Schoenstadt founded Discovery Zone in 1989, with the first location opening in Kansas City, Missouri, in October 1989. A talking robot character named Z-Bop served as mascot to the chain. Discovery Zone ( DZ) was an American chain of entertainment facilities featuring games and elaborate indoor mazes designed for young children, including roller slides, climbing play structures, and ball pits.

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