Amazon to buy MGM for $8.45 billion
Amazon is making a big bet on old school Hollywood. After several rumors that a deal was in talks, the tech company announced this morning it would buy MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Amazon is paying $ 8.45 billion to buy the 97-year-old company.
In the press release, Amazon says that the primary purpose of buying MGM is to increase Amazon Studios’ film production. While this part of the tech company is usually responsible for original TV shows for Amazon Prime Video, it has had some success in film. In the past few months, Amazon has acquired films like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and Coming 2 America that have become big streaming hits.
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With the purchase of MGM, Amazon will have control of over 4,000 films, including large franchises like the James Bond series, Rocky, RoboCop, Stargate, The Pink Panther, Legal Blonde, and many others. MGM does TV shows too, and Amazon will soon have access to over 17,000 TV episodes from series such as Vikings, Fargo, and most interestingly, The Handmaid’s Tale, which is a huge hit for Disney’s Hulu. MGM also does several reality shows including Survivor, The Voice, the Real Housewives franchise, Shark Tank, and more.
You can bet on all of this entertainment IP that Amazon will try to use it for its Prime Video streaming library. You can probably expect to see new entries for many of the MGM franchise debuts on Prime Video, in both new TV and movie versions (a James Bond TV show, anyone?).
Amazon did not announce when the deal would officially close. As with all large purchases, it is subject to government review and approval.
