Amazon Will Buy MGM for $8.45 Billion

Add James Bond to the neverending list of things owned by Amazon. The tech giant acquired the Hollywood studio MGM for almost $9 billion in a deal announced Wednesday morning. The Wall Street Journal first broke the news of an imminent deal on Monday. The studio holds rights to more than 4,000 films—including the James Bond and Rocky franchises—and more than 17,000 hours of TV, including The Handmaid’s Tale, Shark Tank and Survivor. The deal is Amazon’s second-largest acquisition ever, only behind its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017. “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling," said Mike Hopkins, svp of Prime Video and Amazon Studios in a statement. “I am very proud that MGM’s lion, which has long evoked the Golden Age of Hollywood, will continue its storied history, and the idea born from the creation of United Artists lives on in a way the founders originally intended, driven by the talent and their vision," added Kevin Ulrich, chairman of the MGM board of directors. "The opportunity to align MGM’s storied history with Amazon is an inspiring combination." Amazon's continued push into streaming The move further cements Amazon’s formidable spot in the streaming landscape, giving the company access to MGM’s vast library. It also gives Amazon control of the James Bond brand after Sony’s distribution deal expired following 2015’s Spectre. The latest film in the franchise, No Time to Die, was set to be distributed by MGM in 2020, but was pushed back three times to an October 2021 release due to Covid-19. It’s currently unknown if Amazon’s purchase of the studio will affect the distribution plan. Since the pandemic began, Prime Video has released some of Hollywood’s biggest hits, including Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, One Night in Miami and Coming 2 America. “We realized that even though people had a lot of time [in 2020], they had a lot of competition for their time, and so for us it became really important that we had to break through the clutter,” Ukonwa Ojo, global chief marketing officer at Amazon Prime Video and Studios, told Adweek last month. “From TikTok to Instagram to Twitter to the news, there was so much coming at us in the last year. For our shows to really stand out and reach out, we have to earn attention. So, that became a much bigger part of how we go to market.” Amazon Prime Video earned a record 12 Oscar nominations in 2021 and 30 Emmy nominations last year. The ecommerce giant also owns IMDb which launched the free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV in 2019. MGM emerged from bankruptcy in 2010 and has been looking for a buyer for several years. The company’s top shareholder is Anchorage Capital, which leads the studio’s board of directors and spearheaded the deal. Today's news, coupled with the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger announced last week, indicates a new wave of media mergers and acquisitions as companies bulk up yet again to complete with the likes of Netflix and Disney. Amazon Focuses on Reinventing Broadcast TV During First-Ever NewFronts