Amazon has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM first announced last May, the companies said Thursday.
“MGM has a nearly century-long legacy of producing exceptional entertainment, and we share their commitment to delivering a broad slate of original films and television shows to a global audience,” Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said. “We welcome MGM employees, creators, and talent to Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and we look forward to working together to create even more opportunities to deliver quality storytelling to our customers.”
“We are excited for MGM and its bounty of iconic brands, legendary films and television series, and our incredible team and creative partners to join the Prime Video family,” Chris Brearton, chief operating officer of MGM, added. “MGM has been responsible for the creation of some of the most well-known and critically acclaimed films and television series of the past century. We look forward to continuing that tradition as we head into this next chapter, coming together with the great team at Prime Video and Amazon Studios to provide audiences with the very best in entertainment for years to come.”
The completion of the transaction comes two days after the Amazon-MGM deal received clearance from the European Union’s antitrust regulator, which “unconditionally” approvedAmazon’s proposed acquisition ofMGM, in part because “MGM’s content cannot be considered as must-have.” The European Commission, in its antitrust review, found that the overlaps between the Amazon and MGM businesses are “limited.”
At that time, the deal was still pending approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which had been given a mid-March deadline by Amazon to issue a decision on approval of the transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported. That meant if the FTC did not file a legal challenge before the deadline, Amazon could move forward with the deal, per the report.
MGM, founded in 1924, will bring Amazon a catalog of more than 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows, including James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky movie franchises. Amazon believes “the real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of [intellectual property] in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team,” Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said in announcing the deal last year.
MGM’s film catalog includes “12 Angry Men,” “Basic Instinct,” “Creed” and “Rocky,” “Legally Blonde,” “Moonstruck,” “Poltergeist,” “Raging Bull,” “Robocop,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Stargate,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Tomb Raider,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Pink Panther,” “The Thomas Crown Affair” and, of course, the James Bond series. On the TV front, the studio has produced “Fargo,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Vikings.”
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