The mega-media deals just keep coming with news that Amazon is several weeks into negotiations on a deal to acquire MGM for around $9 billion.
A speculative report at The Information broke the news with several media outlets subsequently confirming the talks with their own sources. However, this morning’s announcement of the AT&T-Discovery pact may have slowed things down a bit.
Amazon has been rumoured to be on sale for some time, picking up some heat back in December when a Wall Street Journal report indicated as such – at the time though they were seeking over $10 billion which was seen as too high.
Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video is allegedly spearheading the deal with the help of MGM board chairman Kevin Ulrich who is also the founder of hedge fund Anchorage Capital (which is MGM’s majority shareholder).
Should it go forward, Amazon would be getting one of the deepest film libraries with over 4,000 film titles including twelve Best Picture winners, not to mention a large TV library of various series from “Fargo” to the “Stargate” franchise to “Vikings” and “Survivor” and the Epix pay-TV network.
MGM also releases the James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky/Creed franchises, but doesn’t own the rights to Bond (which remain with EON Productions). Amazon currently has more than 200 million Prime members worldwide and spent around $11 billion on TV series, movies and music last year alone.
Source: Variety
