John Antioco

Biography John Antioco was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of the New York Institute of Technology, where he earned a B.S. in Business Administration. John Antioco has and continues to hold board positions with multi-national retail companies and was also a member of the board of governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Career

7-Eleven

Antioco began his professional career at 7-Eleven, which he joined as a management trainee in 1970. Antioco was also Senior Vice President of Operations, which meant he was in charge of operations for all 7-Eleven stores worldwide.

In 1991, he joined the convenience store chain Circle K, where he assumed the role of president and COO. Under Antioco's leadership, the chain announced plans to close or sell about 1,550 of its least profitable locations and invest in improving the rest of its stores. In 1994, as CEO Antioco took Circle K public, selling 6.5 million shares of stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Antioco left Circle K in 1996, shortly after overseeing a $710 million sale of the company to Tosco Corp.

Blockbuster

Antioco took over as Blockbuster CEO in July 1997. Antioco decoupled Blockbuster Music from its video division, putting it under separate management. The music store division was sold in August 1998 by Blockbuster's parent company Viacom to Wherehouse Entertainment for $115 million.

In 1998, Antioco entered Blockbuster into ground breaking revenue-sharing agreements with Hollywood studios, which allowed its stores to obtain many copies of new releases at a lower price than their competitors and rectify the problem of unavailability of recently released Hollywood movie hits. In August 1999, Antioco took Blockbuster public, selling 18 percent of its stock on the New York Stock Exchange and raising $465 million. At the time, Blockbuster's market share in the video rental space had recently grown to 31 percent. The service allowed customers to rent Blockbuster DVDs online and have them delivered by mail. By the end of 2006, Blockbuster Online had approximately two million subscribers.

Under Antioco, Blockbuster launched these services in part to compete with Netflix, which at the time was a growing competitor in the video retail space.

Antioco left Blockbuster in 2007 due to strategy disagreements with Blockbuster board members over the continued support for the expansion of Blockbuster online business, most notably billionaire investor Carl Icahn, regarding the company's strategy.

JAMCO, Brix Holdings and other roles

In February 2010, Antioco founded, and is the Managing Member of JAMCO Interests, a private equity firm that invests in retail and hospitality ventures. JAMCO is the majority owner of Brix Holdings, which owns restaurant brands such as Friendly’s, Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt, Red Mango, Smoothie Factory + Kitchen, Souper Salad, and Humble Donut Co.. In April 2024, Brix announced their most recent acquisition of the Clean Juice brand bringing their total portfolio unit count to over 300 locations. JAMCO is also a member of TriArtisan Partners, an investment group that owns TGI Fridays, where Antioco served as interim chairman and CEO in 2015. Through its investment in TriArtisan, JAMCO also holds interests in certain of TriArtisan’s other funds and portfolio brands including Energy Solutions, Dover Saddlery and C3 Creating Culinary Communities. Antioco was also CEO of P.F. Chang's, following the company's acquisition by TriArtisan Partners. In 2023, JAMCO acquired an interest in Fire Grounds Coffee Company, a Texas company founded by Paul Clarke, a Marine Corp Veteran and member of the Dallas Fire and Rescue, and Kyle Lund, an Army Veteran and member of the Dallas Fire and Rescue, with a mission to provide quality coffee to first responders. Antioco is currently Chairman of Brix Holdings, a position he has held since 2013.