Amazon agrees to purchase MGM for $8.45 billion

[Shawn Knight]

Recap: MGM has a storied history that stretches back nearly a full century and a massive catalog to boot. More than 4,000 films including Robocop, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Tomb Raider and James Bond will soon be available on Amazon, in addition to 17,000 TV shows such as Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale and Vikings. Collectively, MGM works have won more than 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmys.

Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. Last week, rumors surfaced claiming Amazon was one of several tech firms in talks with MGM regarding a potential acquisition. One week later, the deal has been sealed.

Amazon announced just moments ago that it has entered into an agreement to purchase MGM for $8.45 billion. That’s in line with the $7 billion to $10 billion range floated last week, and closer to the $9 billion that studio reps were reportedly shooting for. It’s the second-largest acquisition in Amazon’s history behind the $13.7 billion the company paid for 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.

Share value in Amazon is up just $0.43 percent on the news.

Amazon isn’t the only one making big moves in the media space. Just last week, AT&T said it was spinning off WarnerMedia which would combine with Discovery to create a new streaming giant. That deal is expected to close sometime in mid-2022.

Images credit: Alex Millauer, Kraft74

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89827-amazon-agrees-purchase-mgm-845-billion.html

 

[R00sT3R]

Amazon Prime monthly price increase incoming....

Amazon isn't paying for this, it's customers are.

 

[m4a4]

Honestly, I'm hoping that they can take Stargate and not **** it up like MGM has been for the past while. Can't do any worse than Origins (Universe was meh, but not horrible)...

 

[whateversa]

I also want to see more Stargate - SG1 and Atlantis type stuff... not Universe (felt suffocating) and not Origin (was sad to watch).

 

[Squid Surprise]

Rocky XIII anyone?

 

[dirtyferret]

Fantastic, just the other day I was hoping a streaming service would bring a back catalog of james bond movies that aged poorly and hit series like hands maid tales and fargo in ten years after their initial contracts are over with their original networks. Way to compete with Disney, HBO & Netflix

 

[kenny loris]

I think this a good move. More content for subscribers

 

[Dimitriid]

With Netflix, Amazon, HBO and Disney now sequestering highly desirable content I think we can officially say we have regressed to the days of cable television in terms of costs. In fact I am failing to see the difference between juggling 4 mayor streaming providers and a single cable tv provider with a tivo device to create "on demand" at least half way through.

Next frontier is probably youtube vs twitch as even user content will start getting more paywalls and determents for people not paying monthly fees to these damn vampires.

 

[NewSparrow]

Prime membership has been creeping up, I hope this is not another reason to hike it up any further sadly I feel it will be...

 

[Raytrace3D]

Honestly, I'm hoping that they can take Stargate and not **** it up like MGM has been for the past while. Can't do any worse than Origins (Universe was meh, but not horrible)...

Seriously, I just want Stargate back. According to GateWorld, there are/were getting close to hammering out a series that continues the story but this I'm sure is going to derail things. MGM hasn't exactly had a good track record with getting off of their IP butts with Stargate so maybe, just maybe this is a good thing. Lets hope. As long as they can bring back Brad Wright and the Josephs' for the writing we have a shot at a good series. We can only hope.

 

[wiyosaya]

I also want to see more Stargate - SG1 and Atlantis type stuff... not Universe (felt suffocating) and not Origin (was sad to watch).

I thought that Universe was not that great until I realized it was about a group of people living and coping with a PTSD scenario. When I realized that, I felt like I finally got it and that it was quite good - but obviously not the kind of TV Stargate series that everyone, including myself, had gotten used to.

Personally, I would not mind them completing Universe, and I would rather see that than have them make yet another SG-1 or Atlantis. IMO, the writers went off the tracks with SG-1 when they killed off entire civilizations without much thought and thus, IMO, killed off potentially great story lines.

As to Amazon buying MGM, well, I cannot say that I am too happy about it. It might result in something great, but more often than not, buyouts like this fail to live up to the potential, IMO.

 

[JKnight]

Will Jeff Bezos play the villain in all James Bond movies now?

 

[Geralt]

Will Jeff Bezos play the villain in all James Bond movies now?

No, his face is for being a villain on Austin Powers' movies.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Prime membership has been creeping up, I hope this is not another reason to hike it up any further sadly I feel it will be...

I already canceled my auto renewal. Once prime deliveries started taking 3 days, then 4, I had to ask why I was paying for prime at all. And outside of the grand tour anything I want on prime video has to be rented or bought.....

Sorry, but $10 a month pays for a lot of shipping. And I certianly dont buy things the way I used to. I'd bet it'll go to $150-160 a year after this buyout.

 

[wiyosaya]

With Netflix, Amazon, HBO and Disney now sequestering highly desirable content I think we can officially say we have regressed to the days of cable television in terms of costs. In fact I am failing to see the difference between juggling 4 mayor streaming providers and a single cable tv provider with a tivo device to create "on demand" at least half way through.

In my area, most of the content for all these "exclusive" services is available to borrow from my local public library. I've seen Star Trek: Discovery this way, "The Good Fight" and I plan on borrowing Star Trek: Picard next. No subscriptions to juggle and the cost is minimal. This assumes, of course, that you have something capable of playing disk media.

 

[Reehahs]

This is good news. Hopefully Amazon will dust-off the old MGM catalogue and make it stream-able.