Amazon said Wednesday it will get MGM Studios for $8.45 billion, signaling its boldest move yet to the entertainment business and turbocharging its flowing ambitions.
The deal would be that the second largest investment in Amazon’s history, supporting its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017.
Amazon said it expects to leverage MGM’s storied filmmaking background to help strengthen Amazon Studios, its own movie and TV division.
“The true monetary value behind this arrangement is that the treasure trove of IP from the deep catalogue we intend to reimagine and grow with MGM’s talented group,” explained Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, in an announcement. “It is very exciting also provides a lot of chances for high quality storytelling.”
The bargain highlights Amazon’s willingness to shell out deeply to stay competitive in the crowded loading marketplace. Amazon, Netflix, Disney and other movie streaming solutions happen to be searching to beef up their material libraries to win more readers, devoting billions toward licensing material and creating original programming.
Meanwhile, the media juggernauts have experienced additional consolidation to attain greater scale to accept the likes of Amazon and Netflix. Discovery’s $43 billion agreement to merge WarnerMedia following a spinoff from AT&T, declared last week, is the most recent symptom of the.
Amazon has been ready to make huge investments on movie content for a way to buoy Prime memberships, which currently surpass 200 million internationally. It spent $11 billion on movie and audio articles this past year, up from $7.8 billion in 2019. CEO Jeff Bezos has contended that these investments fortify Amazon’s”flywheel effect,” since it brings more Prime readers, who in turn, are inclined to invest more on the website.
Amazon has landed strikes in television and film programming, such as”The Big Sick” and”Manchester By The Sea,” winner of this 2017 Academy Award for best original screenplay, in addition to series”The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and”Transparent.”
Another closely watched job, a version of”Lord of the Rings,” is now in production. “Lord of the Rings” includes a year one price tag of $465 million, probably making it among the priciest television series ever produced.
Amazon has also made an aggressive push to sports articles, inking a deal with the NFL in May to broadcast Thursday Night Football beginning in 2022.
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Amazon has a experienced agent in Hollywood. The business announced last week it might bring back Jeff Blackburn, previously a top lieutenant to Bezos, to oversee a new International Media & Entertainment division, that divides its entertainment offerings under a single heading, such as Prime Video, Amazon Studios, its songs and podcasting companies, Amazon Games and Twitch.
MGM will create Amazon’s TV and movie library much more robust. The Hollywood studio possesses the James Bond catalogue and its own studio has made many hit shows such as”The Handmaid’s Tale” and”Fargo.” Additionally, it possesses premium cable community Epix and possesses quite a few popular reality TV shows, such as”Shark Tank,””Survivor” and”The Real Housewives” series.
MGM, that is a private firm, has been looking for a buyer for many decades. Its owners include Anchorage Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Davidson, Kempner Capital Management, Solus Alternative Asset Management and Owl Creek Investments — capital that required charge of the studio as it emerged from bankruptcy in 2010.
The MGM deal may heighten antitrust worries for Amazon. The business faces continuing probes by numerous federal agencies, state attorneys general and Europe’s antitrust watchdog. The House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee issued a sweeping report last October that discovered Amazon has monopoly power over third party vendors on its own market.
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