Amazon said Thursday that its agreement to acquire Hollywood studio MGM was announced in May 2021.
The $8.45 billion deal is Amazon’s second largest acquisition after its $13.7 billion acquisition of whole foods in 2017. MGM will provide Amazon with more than 4000 films and more than 17000 TV dramas, which have won more than 180 Oscars and more than 100 Emmy Awards.
The acquisition of Hollywood studios with a long history is a great blessing for Amazon’s growing media department. Amazon is already an active player in the field of film and television. It creates and obtains content through Amazon studio and broadcasts through its streaming service prime video. Amazon also owns IMDB. Common domain name format.
The deal will continue to compete with Disney, Amazon and other streaming media giants. Amazon uses prime video as one of the many benefits of its $139 per year prime membership, including free shipping, cloud storage, etc. Prime members have 200 million members worldwide.
Amazon spent $13 billion on video and music content last year, up 18% year-on-year.
It is reported that US regulators decided whether to challenge the transaction within the deadline of March 15.
Amazon did not provide details of FTC’s review of the deal in its statement on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the European Commission unconditionally approved Amazon’s acquisition and said on Tuesday that its review determined that the transaction “will not cause competition concerns in Europe”.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Trade Commission is still likely to question the acquisition.
Amazon had previously asked Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Khan to avoid the merger review, specifically referring to her previous criticism of the company’s influence and power.
The agreement comes as regulators are increasingly targeting large-scale technology and antitrust related legislation.
Last year, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Khan claiming that Amazon’s $1 billion acquisition of MGM could harm consumers and expand Amazon’s market dominance beyond acceptable levels.
