News
Amazon closes $8.5 billion deal to acquire MGM
The transfer seems to be to bolster the corporate’s place within the leisure world whereas giving its streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, much more content material to fill its already intensive library. This could assist Amazon problem rivals corresponding to Netflix (NFLX) and Disney+ within the hyper aggressive streaming market.
The deal, which was first introduced in Could, brings MGM and its greater than 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV reveals underneath the Amazon umbrella. None of which is larger than the James Bond franchise, which has racked up billions of {dollars} over the previous 60 years. The suave British spy’s newest movie, “No Time to Die,” has earned greater than $770 million globally since its October launch.
“MGM has an almost century-long legacy of manufacturing distinctive leisure, and we share their dedication to delivering a broad slate of authentic movies and tv reveals to a worldwide viewers,” Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, stated in a press release.
MGM additionally homes different notable franchises, together with “Rocky,” “The Handmaid’s Story,” “RoboCop,” “Legally Blonde” and the Epix TV community.
The deal closed with no problem from the Federal Commerce Fee.
It was reported by The Info in July that the regulator may combat the deal. Nevertheless, The Wall Road Journal reported earlier this month that Amazon “licensed to the FTC that it had supplied all the knowledge requested by antitrust investigators” and a deadline was set for the company to file any authorized problem by mid-March.
The European Union’s antitrust fee additionally accredited the deal, saying that Amazon’s buy of MGM would “increase no competitors issues.”
Past its content material slate, one other incentive for Amazon (AMZN) to amass MGM is to assist it preserve tempo in a media panorama that’s seeing elevated merger exercise, fueled by the ever evolving streaming market.
For instance, CNN mum or dad firm WarnerMedia is merging with Discovery in a deal that was introduced final yr.
That merger, which brings collectively content material from a number of main suppliers together with Warner Bros., Discovery Channel, CNN, HBO, TNT, and HGTV, acquired approval from the Justice Division final month.