Amazon has completed its $8.5bn acquisition of MGM studios. The deal brings a huge volume of content to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming, including the James Bond franchise and was first announced in May 2021.
Recode put the deal into context:
“Amazon has been making and buying its own TV shows and movies since 2013 — the same year Netflix got into streaming its own stuff with House of Cards. But you probably don’t remember Amazon’s first shows — Alpha House? Betas? — and you probably can’t think of many Amazon shows at all, except for Transparent and a few others. Which gives you a sense of how all over the place Amazon’s efforts to break into Hollywood have been, despite the fact that Jeff Bezos has spent a lot to make it happen. Bezos is still trying, though: Amazon is sinking at least half a billion dollars into a Lord of the Rings TV show, and $10 billion over 10 years to show an NFL game once a week. And now, probably, another $9 billion for MGM.”
