Amazon has its eyes on one of Hollywood’s most iconic studios – Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
We’re all familiar with the roaring lion that greeted us every time Tom & Jerry aired on TV. While the Tom & Jerry franchise might have been bought by Warner Bros, MGM still has a huge catalogue of titles that would make any competitor green with envy.
But wait a sec, Amazon already has a studio which has churned out hits like The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and more. Why is it so keen on getting its hands on MGM, a deal probably gonna cost them a whopping $9 billion?
Here’s why –
Content, content, and lots of content
Amazon will have access to MGM’s cast library of iconic movies and TV shows going back decades. This includes the James Bond series, Shark Tank, The Handmaid’s Tale, the Rocky series, Fargo, and more.
The company boasts of more than 4000 movie titles alone.
Subscribers
Amazon’s biggest rival in the streaming space is Netflix with 208 million users, compared to Prime Video’s 175 million users.
The updated content library might just be able to bridge that gap, or at least make it smaller.
But Amazon and Netflix aren’t the only players in the game. Others such as Disney, which struck a deal with Star last year, and Warner Media-owned HBO which has partnered with Discovery, are also boosting their catalogues in order to get a larger share of the pie.
ROI
Industry insiders say that MGM is worth anywhere between $5 to $6 billion. Why would Amazon pay a $3 billion premium to buy it out?
In 2020 alone, Amazon shelled out $11 billion for original content created for Prime Video.
Considering the ginormous catalogue of thousands of films and shows that will be added to Prime Video, $9 billion seems like a pretty sweet deal.
This truly might be a pivotal moment in the streaming wars, and there’s no doubt that there’s a lot more to come.
