Amazon is nearing a new deal to buy MGM Studios for somewhere around $9 billion. MGM, a private company, owns the rights to many popular film series, such as James Bond and Legally Blonde. A film studio that also owns many different forms of entertainment content, MGM has been looking for a buyer for the last few years.
If this deal goes through, this will be the biggest deal Amazon has made since they first bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion back in 2017. If agreements are met, the deal between Amazon and MGM could be completed sometime this week, according to sources. In fact, some seem to think that this deal could be finalized by Tuesday at the earliest.
While MGM has been looking for buyers for the past few years, it isn’t too much of a surprise that Amazon has decided to buy the private company. Amazon has consistently looked to increase its presence in the streaming industry. Amazon Prime, while successful, has to compete with other streaming platforms, such as Netflix, Disney+, and many others.
As more streaming platforms enter the market, existing platforms are looking to increase their library or catalog — or, in some way, give consumers something new and different. It has been rumored that Amazon was looking to acquire more TV and film content to put on their Amazon Prime streaming service. Therefore, it makes sense that Amazon would invest in MGM Studios, an incredibly large company that has the rights to many films and TV shows. By owning MGM, Amazon can add their large library to Amazon Prime in whichever way they please.
MGM, meanwhile, has been looking for a buyer for several years now. Currently, the studio is owned by Anchorage Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Davidson, Kempner Capital Management, Solus Alternative Asset Management, and Owl Creek Investments. These businesses took control of MGM after the studio faced bankruptcy in 2010.
MGM owns the rights to various forms of entertainment content, such as feature films, movie and TV franchises, current popular TV shows, and reality TV shows. One of their popular studios makes fan-favorite TV shows such as “Fargo” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Their reality shows include “The Real Housewives” shows, as well as “Shark Tank” and “The Voice”.
Their entertainment franchises are also various. For example, they own the rights to James Bond, Legally Blonde, The Pink Panther, Rocky, and Stargate. MGM also owns Epix, a premium pay-TV service. Amazon, if the deal goes through, could easily add these types of entertainment content to Amazon Prime, thereby increasing their overall online streaming catalog, as seems to be the plan.
Amazon isn’t the only big company looking to increase its streaming presence. Just last week, AT&T’s WarnerMedia announced that it was merging with Discovery in an effort to increase its own streaming presence. As more consumers continue to prefer streaming services to other platforms, the “streaming wars” between major streaming companies will only continue. Mergers, acquisitions, and deals such as Amazon’s will also seemingly continue.
