MGM and Amazon Is the takeover in danger of failing?

Status: 22.06.2021 10:18 p.m.

Actually, the mega-deal between the traditional MGM studio and the online giant Amazon was already dry. Now the takeover is to be checked again by the US Trade Commission FTC.

From Marcus Schuler, ARD studio Los Angeles

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new head of the FTC Trade Commission, Lina Khan, wants to take another closer look at the planned takeover of the renowned Hollywood studio by Amazon. The reason for this is an already existing competition procedure against Amazon, which the FTC has initiated.

The group actually wanted to take over the 97-year-old film studio from Jeff Bezos for the equivalent of 6.91 billion euros. This was intended to increase the Amazon Prime film library – Amazon’s streaming service – in order to be able to remain competitive with the video platforms of Netflix, Disney Plus and HBO Max. More than 4,000 productions are slumbering in the MGM archive – including all James Bond films. In addition, Amazon is increasingly producing its own content for its Prime video platform. In addition, the company has attracted attention with its aggressive purchasing policy in US sports rights. Among other things, it holds broadcasting rights to the US National Football League (NFL). Compared to other providers, however, their own library of entertainment goods such as series and feature films is relatively small.

In the worst case, no approval

The takeover has now suffered a setback. In the worst case scenario, it could not be approved. Only a few weeks ago, after consulting the Justice Department, the FTC reserved the right to examine the takeover more closely. Neither the US agency nor the online company wanted to comment on the process.

In the US, a great deal of competition has arisen for dominance in the streaming market. This market has so far been dominated by Netflix. The new head of the FTC, the 32-year-old Khan, caused a sensation five years ago with a legal article in the Yale Law Journal. In this she had described what she believed was anti-competitive behavior on the part of Amazon. She came to the conclusion that the current US competition laws are too weak to be able to put a constantly expanding company like Amazon in their place.

Less freedom for tech companies

In the past, Khan had advocated curbing large dominant companies time and again. This is one of the few overlaps shared by the two parties represented in Congress. Both Democrats and Republicans want to tighten the power of tech companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.

Khan was appointed to office by US President Joe Biden a few days ago. She is expected to regulate the big tech companies in Silicon Valley and on the US West Coast more tightly

Amazon has acquired Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), a long-standing Hollywood studio. Amazon has reached an agreement to own movie studio MGM for $8.45 billion, the company announced on May 26. This is considered a significant step forward for the e-commerce giant when Amazon will add to the available content store about 4,000 titles and 17,000 hours of TV series. The deal helps Amazon attract more Prime users, in order to compete fairly with rivals that own a diverse stock of original movies like Netflix or Disney Plus. MGM is the Hollywood studio behind hit franchises like James Bond and Rocky, but also modern adult series like The Handmaid’s Tale and Vikings. In addition, this studio also owns popular TV shows such as The Voice (Vietnamese Voice) and Shark Tank (Billion Billion Deal). However, the most famous and best known by Vietnamese people is the animated series Tom and Jerry. “The real financial value behind this deal is the IP treasure (copyright) that we plan to renew and grow with the talented team of MGM,” said Mike Hopkins, vice president. in charge of Prime Video and Amazon Studios said. Amazon’s television business is still only a very small slice of an e-commerce empire worth $ 1,650 billion. However, to date, there are more than 200 million subscribers to use Amazon Prime monthly service, with a service fee of 5.99 USD/month. News of Amazon’s acquisition of Hollywood’s 97-year-old studio emerged in mid-May. On May 24, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Amazon was very close to a deal to acquire MGM. MGM is owned by a group of investment funds including Anchorage Capital Group, Highland Capital Management, and Solus Alternative Asset Management. Reports about investors wanting to sell MGM to recover capital have surfaced since the end of December 2020. Currently, Hollywood film studios are in a fierce race to fight against the powerful forces of the day like Netflix or Disney. Last week, telecommunications giant AT&T also planned to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery to create the world’s second-largest media giant, after Disney mouse house. At that time, AT&T ambitiously merged HBO Max and Discovery Plus to create a video-on-demand service with a rich content store that could beat the competition. Phuong Nguyen (according to TheVerge)