Amazon And MGM Merger Complete

“Amazon joins MGM,” Amazon said Thursday as the $8.5 billion deal announced last May closes.

“MGM has a nearly century-long legacy of producing exceptional entertainment, and we share their commitment to delivering a broad slate of original films and television shows to a global audience,” said Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios. “We welcome MGM employees, creators, and talent to Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and we look forward to working together to create even more opportunities to deliver quality storytelling to our customers.”

“We are excited for MGM and its bounty of iconic brands, legendary films and television series, and our incredible team and creative partners to join the Prime Video family,” said Chris Brearton, chief operating officer of MGM. “MGM has been responsible for the creation of some of the most well-known and critically acclaimed films and television series of the past century. We look forward to continuing that tradition as we head into this next chapter, coming together with the great team at Prime Video and Amazon Studios to provide audiences with the very best in entertainment for years to come.

News means the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has not, as expected, filed to block the merger or impose conditions on for the historic deal which comes just as another mega-combo of WarnerMedia and Discovery gets set to close in April.

Earlier this week, Amazon has won unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $8.5 billion acquisition of the storied U.S. movie studio. The European Commission decided the deal wouldn’t pose competition concerns in Europe.

The e-commerce giant with its massive market cap of $1.4 trillion acquired the century-old studio behind the James Bond and Rocky franchises from investors led by Anchorage Capital, whose founder Kevin Ulrich is chairman of MGM. This deal is the first in a long-anticipated marriage of deep-pocketed big tech players and Hollywood.

The price tag was considered high but is barely a ripple for the Jeff Bezos-founded e-commerce behemoth that is looking to MGM’s expansive library of nearly 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows to recast the 11-year old Prime Video streaming service. Prime Video helps fuel Amazon Prime, the biggest consumer loyalty program in the world and one that’s key to driving Amazon’s business.

Founder Jeff Bezos, announcing the deal. said it was driven by IP and promised to “help preserve MGM’s heritage and catalog of films, and to provide customers with greater access to these existing works.” Amazon will  also “empower MGM to continue to do what they do best, great storytelling.”

Bezos has since stepped away from day-to-day operations at Amazon, which is now run by CEO Andrew Jassy, former head of Amazon Web Services. Amazon Studios is led by Jennifer Salke. Julie Rapaport and Matt Newman are co-presidents of film.

MGM’s motion picture group is led by chairman Michael DeLuca and president Pamela Abdy has a great run recently despite the lingering pandemic with all kinds of accolades for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, as well as House of Gucci and the latest Bond installment No Time To Die. A steady source of new production it’s massive library includes titles like 12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Thelma & Louise, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair to name a few. Standouts in TV, overseen by Mark Burnett, include Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale and Vikings. 

Amazon has nabbed a Best Picture Oscar nomination among others for Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos with Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. In Sept. the streamer will launch the first of five planned seasons of The Lord Of The Rings: The Ring of Power, a highly anticipated, epic and epically expensive television project, adding to series including Underground Railroad, Jack Ryan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Fleabag, The Boys and others.

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