image credits: cnet.com, currency.com
American multinational company Amazon is acquiring the movie and TV studio MGM for a hefty sum of $8.45 billion. The acquisition will further strengthen Amazon which is already among the biggest companies on the planet. The deal has taken place while the company’s streaming service- Amazon Prime faces increasing competition from Netflix, Disney+ among others.
This is the second-biggest acquisition for Amazon trailed only by Whole Foods which the E-commerce giant bought for $14 billion in the year 2017. Founded in 1924, MGM is among the oldest Hollywood studios and has given many classics over the years. James Bond, ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Shark Tank’ are among the best-known creations of the studio. Among its upcoming movies are another James Bond movie ‘No Time to Die’ and Aretha Franklin’s biopic named ‘Respect’.
The over-the-top (OTT) industry is witnessing increased activity and rising competition. On May 17, AT&T and Discovery announced the combining of their media companies, creating a huge and powerful network including HGTV, CNN, Food Network and HBO. Though Amazon has a studio of its own, its results have been a mixed bag. While two of its creations, ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ and ‘Fleabag’ have won the best comedy series Emmys, others have failed to impress the audience. Buying MGM Studios will give Amazon access to a range of films, shows, famous characters like Rocky, Robocop & Pink Panther and also a cable channel- Epix.
Amazon’s streaming network is vast with more than 200 million users paying up for its Prime membership which offers streaming service in addition to faster E-Commerce deliveries and Amazon Music. The company also offers IMDb TV, a free streaming service. Founded in 1995 by Jeff Bezos as a book store, Amazon has expanded rapidly to deliver almost everything in two days or less. It has also entered the cloud computing(Amazon Web Services) and space industry(Blue Origin).