It is alleged that Amazon.com Inc is in talks with Metro Goldwyn Mayer to purchase the studio for $9 billion. Amazon refuse to comment on, what they call “rumours and speculation”.
Reports began flying around just hours after telecom giant AT & T confirmed they are splitting part of their assets. In a $43 billion tie up with Discovery, media assets HBO and Warner Brothers, will be utilised to create a new streaming giant.
Amazon is becoming a dominant streaming channel in a market dominated by Netflix until now. Originally starting as a book distributer, it has grown substantially in the last seven decades. Recently it has expanded into the football world by renewing its ongoing deal to show 20 premier league matches a season.
Amazon has thrived during the pandemic. Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive, stepped aside this year but not before announcing a $8.1 billion profit in the first quarter. In 2020, following the first lockdown, the swap to online shopping rather than physical stores resulted in a $21.3 billion profit. This is double what the company made in 2019.
MGM has been a target for global giant for years, although no company has yet to close a deal with them. Last year MGM hired solicitors in the hope to filter acquisition requests. Like many film studios, the pandemic hit the studio irreparably, with all cinemas closed for the past year.
Netflix held talks with MGM to purchase No Time to Die but a price could not be agreed. As such, its release is postponed until the Autumn this year when cinemas can re open.
Amazon – seven decades of global market domination
Amazon began in the garage of Jeff Bezos after his father invested $250,000. It originally opened as a book seller with the largest book collection in the world.
In the first two months of business Amazon sold books to all 50 states of the US and 45 other countries. Its profits are up to $20,000 a week. Despite fighting of lawsuits in the past, and a current lawsuit by an independent bookstore in Evanstan , it has continued to profit since recording its first end of year profit in 2003.
In 2000, Amazon changes its logo from A to Z with a curved arrow. It symbolises they now sell everything you could need or want. In 2001, the company makes its first profit on revenues of a billion which is relatively modest – it confirms to Jeff that Amazon is going to succeed.
Since 2014, when they launched the fire phone, it has continued to grow. They now are global giants, entering the streaming world with Amazon Prime in 2016.
In 2018, Amazon announced Amazon Go. A store where customers could pick up products and walk out, with their accounts automatically being charged. Meant to eliminate the need for checkout lines, customers require a Amazon Go account and app installed on their phone.
If Amazon acquires MGM studio, it will gain an extensive movie library including James Bond, one of the most successful film franchises ever made. Talks are still ongoing.
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