Amazon is spending $8.45 billion to buy MGM, the 97-year-old studio behind the “Rocky” and “James Bond” franchises, as well as TV shows like “The Handmaid’s Tale.” MGM is a shell of its former self and was on the hunt for a buyer. That nearly $9 billion price tag is close to what MGM was asking for, and is mere pocket change for the tech giant.
The MGM purchase comes with 4,000 titles, which provides Amazon an instant library of films and TV shows to add to the fare made in its own studio. While Amazon has niche hits like “Transparent” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the streamer hasn’t had a ton of success developing its more mainstream properties like “Jack Ryan” and “Borat” without help from other studios.
There’s sadness in certain parts of the industry as one of the oldest studios now falls into the hands of Amazon, where it’s unclear if CEO Jeff Bezos really cares about the movie business, or is just using the creative assets to boost Amazon Prime subscriptions so that users will buy more socks or groceries.