EU approves Amazon's multi-billion MGM acquisition

Luca Fontana

16.3.2022

Translation: machine translated

Amazon's $8.45 billion acquisition of legendary film studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) is not yet in the bag. But the EU has nothing against it - an important milestone.

Amazon's billion-dollar takeover of the James Bond film studio MGM, announced last May, is entering the next phase: The EU's competition regulators have no competition concerns, even after a thorough investigation. The green light from the Commission can therefore be regarded as an important milestone.

However, the 8.45 billion dollar takeover has not yet been completed.

Who can still prevent the takeover?

On the other side of the Atlantic, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a much tougher nut to crack. This is because Amazon and Lina Khan, head of the FTC, clashed heavily last July. At the time, the Internet giant announced in a 25-page filing that Khan was "out of place" because she was "biased." In doing so, Amazon referenced Khan's public comments that the online retailer "violated antitrust laws" and "should be broken up."

The FTC is now under pressure to act. If it wants to stop the deal, it will have to do it soon. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon only recently confirmed that it had provided all the information requested by the agency. This set in motion a deadline that ends in mid-March, which is soon. If no complaint is filed by then, Amazon will be allowed to complete the acquisition. The FTC could still file a lawsuit afterwards, but this would then result in antitrust litigation. This would drag on for months or even years. In the meantime, Amazon is likely to continue pursuing its MGM plans unhindered.

Why Amazon wants the deal so badly

The online retailer has a lot at stake. After all, Prime Video - Amazon's streaming service - plays an overriding role in its business model. Prime customers are extremely lucrative and loyal: at an average of $3,000 per year, they spend more than twice as much as non-Prime customers.

It goes without saying that Amazon is making every effort to keep its more than 200 million Prime customers happy. MGM's big pearl is "James Bond." Other exciting MGM franchises include "Hobbit," "Rocky," "Creed" and "RoboCop. MGM is not underrepresented in the series sector either: "Stargate SG-1," "Stargate Atlantis," "Vikings," "Fargo," "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Fame" all belong to the company. Exploiting these franchises for countless new films and series is an opportunity that Amazon is reluctant to pass up.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more