The legendary Hollywood studio MGM has officially joined Amazon’s studios and video platform, the e-commerce giant announced on Thursday, which has paid out $8.45 billion to better arm itself against competition in the entertainment sector. streaming.”With more than 4,000 movies, 17,000 TV episodes, 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmy Awards, the historic, nearly century-old studio will complement the work of Prime Video and Amazon Studios to provide entertainment choice variety to customers,” a press release read. The Seattle group thus recovers a catalog which includes, among others, James Bond and Rocky, but also The Silence of the Lambs or Basic Instinct. Amazon announced in May 2021 the acquisition of MGM. This is the second most expensive acquisition in Amazon’s history after that of the American supermarkets Whole Foods for 13.7 billion dollars in 2017. Brussels announced on Tuesday that it had authorized the acquisition without conditions, estimating that the operation posed “no competition problem” in Europe. The transaction is however contested in the United States. Worried about Amazon’s growing power over the subscription video streaming (SVOD) sector, unions are trying to prevent it, supported by political figures. The Strategic Organizing Center, a federation which claims to represent nearly four million employees, notably called on the American competition authority (FTC) to oppose it. She estimates that Amazon will control around 56,000 titles after this operation, far ahead of Netflix, which would have just under 20,000 titles. “The FTC does not comment on specific transactions”, reacted a door- federal agency in a statement sent to AFP, before adding: “However, we reiterate the fact that the Commission is not an authority that approves transactions and that it is able to challenge an agreement at any time if it determines that it violates the law.” The FTC also recalled that it had been sending warning letters since last summer for mergers or acquisitions that it had not had the time to examine within the framework provided by law, in order to warn the parties concerned that they were still under investigation. The regulator would not confirm whether it had sent such a letter to Amazon and MGM. Created in April 1924 by Marcus Loew, a cinema owner, MGM has become one of the most important studios in Hollywood with a host of stars like Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. It has experienced many financial setbacks since the 1970s, passing through many hands before declaring bankruptcy in 2010 and then restructuring.Prime Video is Amazon’s streaming platform, included in the commerce service subscription online which notably allows users to have them delivered free of charge and more quickly. In April, Prime reported having more than 175 million subscribers.
Leave a comment