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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Blockbuster Inc <BBI.N> on Tuesday abandoned its offer to buy electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc <CC.N>, after weeks of investor speculation that the deal was falling apart. Shares of the video rental chain jumped more than 7 percent in extended trade after the news. Circuit City's shares fell 1.6 percent, after declining nearly 12 percent at Tuesday's close. Blockbuster's Chief Executive Jim Keyes cited "market conditions" as a reason for withdrawing its offer, valued at up to $1.3 billion, and said the deal was not in the best interests of its shareholders. In a brief statement, Keyes said the company, which is in the middle of turnaround efforts, continues to believe in the "strategic merits of a consumer retail proposition that would bring media content and electronic devices together under one brand." But Blockbuster would now use its stores "as a way to diversify the business and better serve the entertainment retail segment," Keyes said. Blockbuster in April disclosed that it had offered to buy Circuit City in February for $6 to $8 a share, or up to $1.3 billion. (Reporting by Anupreeta Das in San Francisco and Nichola Groom in Los Angeles, editing by Phil Berlowitz and Carol Bishopric)
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