Amazon Closes $8.5 Billion Acquisition of MGM (variety.com) 57
Amazon has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, the companies said Thursday. From a report: The pact was first announced in May and has been winding its way through the regulatory process. Per Amazon, "The storied, nearly century-old studio -- with more than 4,000 film titles, 17,000 TV episodes, 180 Academy Awards, and 100 Emmy Awards -- will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios' work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers." The completion of the transaction comes two days after the Amazon-MGM deal received clearance from the European Union's antitrust regulator, which "unconditionally" approved Amazon's proposed acquisition of MGM, in part because "MGM's content cannot be considered as must-have." The European Commission, in its antitrust review, found that the overlaps between the Amazon and MGM businesses are "limited."
This hit anybody else in their no-no spot? (Score:2)
And not in the good way?
I mean, I'd be more squicked out if it were Disney, as they own way too much of the entertainment market as it is, but somebody as big as Amazon buying one of the older studios just feels a touch too . . . what's the word? Man, it just hits wrong. Like, these huge sprawling conglomerates really don't need to absorb anymore big players, do they?
I feel like we're fast headed to a point where it's just going to come down to the last two big companies owning all the media, and then an ac
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I don't care who is in charge of what, permitting megaconglomerates to form is not going to go anywhere positive.
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That's exactly what I'm getting from this. I mean, usually with mergers or acquisitions this big you at least hear a little ripple of government oversight. This time, not a squeak was uttered about it. Like this was just a done deal from day one.
I wrote a fictional story years and years ago about how the entire world came to be controlled by one corporation. I really thought that was far-flung dystopian nightmare fuel more than anything. I never thought in a million years I'd be witnessing the lead-up to it
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This time, not a squeak was uttered about it. Like this was just a done deal from day one.
You're not wrong. I recall a much larger dust-up during the Sirius / XM merger [law360.com] (remember them?). All manner of probes and hearings and hand wringing about lack of competition and all of that nonsense. But Metro Golden aMazon? Nada.
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I mean, usually with mergers or acquisitions this big you at least hear a little ripple of government oversight. This time, not a squeak was uttered about it.
I'm guessing you missed this story [slashdot.org] yesterday. The government, or rather some of the more progressive elements of it, has taken notice that a lot of consolidation has been happening lately. We're down from 4 major cell carriers to 3, and Disney has gobbled up just about everything in the entertainment industry that was for sale.
I doubt anything will actually come of that bill, though. The majority of the government is now firmly in the belief that that "trickle down economics" is a good thing, and allowin
Antitrust isn't about bigness (Score:2)
So I guess antitrust regulations have become obsolete... and not in the good way. Amazon was already too big before this.
Antitrust regs don't regulate "bigness", they're about market competition. The FTC would need to show how consumers would be harmed by the deal. Will James Bond and Rocky now only be available for streaming on Amazon Prime? Likely. But before the deal, MGM's content was only allowed to stream wherever they had an exclusive deal anyway.
Content ownership coupled with content delivery par for the course: MCU is only available on Disney+, Curb Your Enthusiasm is only on HBO Max, The Office is only on Peacock. A
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That's true, but bigness sure goes a big way towards market dominance, and Amazon already has that dominance in many aspects.
Now you're contradicting your first sentence.
It has only been since the Reagan administration that the justice department has the much-harder-to-show consumer harm as the guiding factor for pursuing anti-trust cases rather than the more reas
Re: This hit anybody else in their no-no spot? (Score:2)
Re:This hit anybody else in their no-no spot? (Score:5, Interesting)
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I'd have rather seen MGM and Paramount merge. Both are old players that are struggling. Both have some good IP they do nothing with. Losing the people in the management that are scared to try anything for fear of failing and putting their heads together could result in a new competitor, rather than another long-in-the-tooth business caving to the tech conglomerates.
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I dunno, man. Two majors that are both at risk of shutting down if they don't turn shit around doesn't seem anti-trust triggering to me. Granted, the US government's idea of anti-trust nowadays is just, "you should contribute more to my campaign," so none of this conversation is anything other than theoretical. I'm just kinda sick of watching the largest monsters in the country grow larger and larger with nobody so much as batting an eye at it.
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They aren't at the point of dying off right now, but they've had some real bombs over the past decade or so that really took the wind out of their sales. There were talks pre-pandemic that if they didn't have a big win pretty soon, they were going to have to scale back considerably on their big budget films and start focusing on tighter/quicker release cycles. Which is not a good sign for a studio known for blockbusters at one time.
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Man, it just hits wrong. Like, these huge sprawling conglomerates really don't need to absorb anymore big players, do they?
I get you. I'm Canadian and fondly remember the days when the Eaton's Catalouge would come in, that giddy excitement as I perused the toy section and scribbled out my Santa Claus wish list that I'd show my parents before mailing it in. Because Eaton's was Amazon before Amazon was even a glimmer in Bezos' eye, you could order anything from the catalouge from anywhere in Canada and get it shipped within a couple of days to a week or two for a relatively low cost.
Then they bungled it, they cancelled the cata
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Sears made the same mistake, Just when the internet was about to take off they went away from their catalog to rely on brick and mortar stores (or should I say steel studs and EIFS stores?)
"Sears discontinued distribution of the general merchandise catalog in 1993." [searsarchives.com]
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This is more a case of a new, big player that has changed with the market buying an old player that hasn't changed with the market.
That's the case with at least half of these recent mergers.
The other ones are companies that have botched a project or two and were in a position to be bought (mostly the Microsoft purchases).
The only one that seems backward was AT&T buying Warner, but that's going away anyhow and I think that was more AT&T throwing around their money to try and buy into a market.
We will
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Personally, my biggest concern is that Amazon will censor all the old media they now own which doesn't conform to "the message". They already ban books that don't meet their ideological standards so permanently mothballing old movies that aren't woke enough seems completely possible.
Stop voting for pro corporate politicians (Score:2)
Stop listening to politicians. They use body language and the excitement of a good rally to trick you. Instead read transcripts. Never vote for an actor. An actor's job is to fool you into thinking they're something else. Comedians are fine, they're there to make you laugh, entertainers, fine. But
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We all know damn well it doesn't matter what the overlaps are, this is going to eventually increase prices.
There is exactly zero evidence that the expansion of Amazon raises prices. Quite the opposite.
We're all already seeing the effects of all these mergers on our pocket books. We know this is wrong.
No, we're seeing the effect of "stimulus" (more money chasing fewer goods and services), of pipeline shutdowns, and of warmongering on our pocketbooks.
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There is exactly zero evidence that the expansion of Amazon raises prices. Quite the opposite.
That doesn't mean they are not trying [wa.gov].
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There is exactly zero evidence that the expansion of Amazon raises prices. Quite the opposite.
So, what megacorp mergers have resulted in lower prices for the consumer?
jeopardytheme.mp3
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Lower prices (Score:2)
So, what megacorp mergers have resulted in lower prices for the consumer?
Amazon-Whole Foods and HP-Compaq come to mind.
And probably any eCommerce company Amazon acquired, especially if you include shipping costs.
I could care but... (Score:2)
... let's be honest, the entertainment industry has always been a business that more closely resembled the mafia than actual corporations.
MGM certainly has an interesting catalog but what comes out of Hollywood lately isn't worth crying over, with few exceptions.
I, for one, welcome them merging together to the point of a duopoly... Perhaps wi will reach a threshold where they get SO lazy that people finally stop suckling at the entertainment industry's teats.
I expect many will disagree but I think it would
Re: I could care but... (Score:1)
Stargate (Score:2)
I dislike this consolidation but as a silver lining, apparently it's the green light for at least two new Stargate series. There's a small chance they won't mess it up.
Prime Stargate only $999 per package! (Score:2)
Prime Stargate only $999 per package!
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They will hire a showrunner with no prior experience, and writers who have never watched any of the Stargate series but have very strong opinions about how it can be "fixed". Money will be burned, time will be wasted, but at least the crew gets paid, as viewers will inevitably shun the creative diarrhea belched forth from Amazon.
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It will be like SGU but even more dark and gritty... because that's "what the fans want". And when the fans complain, they will be called toxic just like Star Trek.
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Disney bought all of 20th Century Fox just to get all of Star Wars. I'm OK with an MGM buy if someone resurrects Stargate. I never much got into Star Trek, but liked all 3 series of Stargate. And the original, practically unrelated movie.
One fewer competitor (Score:3)
See how well the free market provides for consumer choice by making the market smaller and so the choices are easier? Everyone wins!
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Yes, it would be nice to let MGM fail (they announced insolvency in 2020). And then it would be sold at fire sale prices, piecemeal, instead of protecting the brand as a whole...
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Yes, it would be nice to let MGM fail (they announced insolvency in 2020). And then it would be sold at fire sale prices, piecemeal, instead of protecting the brand as a whole...
Fuck the brand.
I don't sit down to watch a "brand". I'm interested in protecting the art and keeping it available. If that's at a fire-sale price, then so much the better.
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No one needs to take over Netflix; they're dead but don't know it.
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It's really too bad. They still have the best interface. I wonder if they could become more profitable by pivoting to developing and licensing their IP so that the players with the better catalogs could all have a decent interface instead of being painful to use.
Now all we need... (Score:2)
Now all we need is some of these megacorps to start merging with each other so we can have NBCUniversalComcast DisneyABCTimeWarnerBrothers versus AmazonPrimeMGM AT&TDirecTVHBOCBSViacom ... and Fox
We... (Score:1)
First World "Problem" (Score:2)
It's "entertainment". Nothing critical here. I mean, honestly, what difference does it make who owns all MGM's shit?
If someone were inclined to complain about this, they should be complaining, and much more loudly, about any given movie or show being exclusive to any given service, rather than being required to be licensed on a "fair and reasonable" basis to any other service that wants to host that movie or show.
I mean, it's MONOPOLISTIC (oh no!) for, say, Netflix, to have a show or movie that no one els
Big picture but small minds (Score:2)
The European Commission, in its antitrust review, found that the overlaps between the Amazon and MGM businesses are "limited."
Oh you sweet naive little lawmakers...
Nearly five years ago Amazon was reported, here on /., to be planning on entering the prescription drug market. I commented at the time [slashdot.org] on their, and their peers', apparent strategy, at least as I saw it then. Nothing I have seen since has significantly altered that view.
I wonder if I'll be looking back in 5 more years as Amazon complete their buyout of a container shipping / global logistics firm, or a major power company.
What do you all think? Where will they stick th
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Japanese hentai pr0n seems like an obvious choice.
Times they are a'changin' (Score:2)
You want content?
Just buy all of Hollywood this week, Bollywood the week after, even if the petty-cash suffers this month.
amazing! (Score:2)
The amazing thing is that it was cheaper than Zynga.
Farmville is worth more than James Bond. What a time to be alive.
Clean-up in aisle 007 (Score:2)
It's a shame (Score:2)
Between YouTube, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime, Amazon has the worst UI I've seen for videos, categories, filtering, etc. The fact that they show crap add-on "channels" like Starz all over the place doesn't help either.