Amazon Reportedly Looks to Close $9 Billion Deal with MGM

Amazon Reportedly Looks to Close $9 Billion Deal with MGM

By Movieguide® Staff

Amazon will look to join other significant media mergers and finalize a $9 billion deal to obtain MGM, according to Variety.

“Chatter that Amazon (and other tech and media giants) have been sniffing around MGM has circulated for some time. But sources indicated that Amazon’s interest in acquiring the studio has taken on a new tenor beyond the usual rumor mill. The deal is said to be being orchestrated by Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video, directly with MGM board chairman Kevin Ulrich,” Variety reported.

MGM is reportedly searching for potential buyers and offers one of the most extensive catalogs of movies and shows in entertainment.

Amazon’s move aligns with the company’s increased focus on media and entertainment. The company’s streaming platform, Amazon Prime, boasts around 200 million subscribers. The acquisition of MGM would further boost the streamer’s appeal to consumers.

MGM owns 4,000 movie titles, including popular titles and franchises like JAMES BOND, HOBBIT, ROCKY/CREED, ROBOCOP, and PINK PANTHER. The company’s library also includes nearly 17,000 episodes of scripted and unscripted TV series.

Should Amazon close the deal with MGM, it would join the list of other media mergers such as AT&T and Time Warner, Disney and Fox, Warner Media and Discovery, and CBS and Viacom.

Movieguide® previously reported:

WarnerMedia and Discovery joined forces in a groundbreaking new deal as significant media companies merge to compete with the rise of video streaming in a changing market.

David Zaslav will head the conglomerate, which seeks to compete with the industry’s top entertainment companies.

AT&T trusts Zaslav to reconfigure the two companies and, according to the company’s CEO John Stankey, will focus on U.S. telecommunications business, while WarnerMedia makes an effort to compete in the streaming arena. Stankey believes that the new relationship will provide AT&T “with the right capital structure [and] better products are going to come from the media company and the communications company as the result of making this change.”

Amazon is currently in production on a LORD OF THE RINGS series.