Amazon to buy MGM for $8.45B, paving way for extensive TV & film library on Prime

NEW YORK / AP — Amazon is going to Hollywood.

The online retailer giant is buying MGM, the production studio behind James Bond, “Legally Blonde” and “Shark Tank,” with hopes of fill its video streaming service with more things to watch.

Amazon is paying $8.45 billion for MGM, making it the company’s second-largest acquisition after it bought grocer Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion in 2017.

This deal is the latest in the industry that’s aimed at boosting streaming services to compete with Netflix and Disney+.

Amazon doesn’t say how many people watch its Prime Video service, but more than 200 million have access to it because they’re signed up for its Prime membership. Besides Prime Video, Amazon also has a free streaming service called IMDb TV, where Amazon makes money by playing ads during movies and shows.

Buying MGM would give Amazon access to more films, shows and famous characters like Rocky, RoboCop and Pink Panther.

The production company has a long list of classics in its wheelhouse, including “Singin’ in the Rain.” More recent productions include reality TV staples “Shark Tank” and “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” as well as the upcoming James Bond movie “No Time to Die” and an Aretha Franklin biopic called “Respect.”

Amazon, founded in 1995 as an online bookstore, has become a $1.6 trillion behemoth that does a little bit of everything. It has a delivery business network that gets orders to people in two days or sooner; sells inhalers and insulin; has a cloud-computing business that powers the apps of Netflix and McDonald’s; and has plans to send more than 3,200 satellites into space to beam internet service to Earth.

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