Word on the street is that talks are heating up between MGM Studios and Amazon on a possible acquisition of the Hollywood studio by the e-Commerce giant. The price tag being discussed is said to be in the range of $9B, which is a hefty premium compared to its $5.5B market value that industry analysts had estimated last December, at the height of the COVID pandemic, when MGM made it clear that it was open to considering offers. As for most media properties in 2021, MGM’s value is predicated on its opportunity in streaming. Amazon Prime has over 200M members, and 175M of those have streamed content on the platform within the last year. With an acquisition of MGM, Amazon would gain access to its trove of repertory content, which includes iconic film franchises such James Bond, Rocky/ Creed and Pink Panther. The MGM library also includes hundreds of popular TV series, both past and present, including Stargate, The Handmaid’s Tale, American Gladiators, The Voice, Survivor, Shark Tank and many, many others. All of this could be added to Amazon Prime’s catalogue to keep its subscribers online for binge-watching.
See also: Amazon Already Built a Studio. Why Does it Want to Buy MGM? (Bloomberg)