WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Amazon.com on Thursday (March 17) stated it had closed its US$8.5 billion (S$11 billion) deal to purchase MGM, combining the fabled film maker behind Rocky and James Bond with the web retailing large because it seems to be to attract customers by means of extra streaming video.
In an announcement, Amazon stated it will welcome all MGM workers to the corporate and work with the studio’s management, indicating there wouldn’t be layoffs. Its choice to shut comes after a deadline handed for the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to problem the deal.
The Seattle-based retailer introduced the transaction in May final 12 months, saying MGM supplied a trove of content material to attract customers to its fast-shipping and streaming membership Prime, which prices US$14.99 a month within the United States.
Nearly a 12 months later, Amazon is evident of regulatory hurdles.
The European Commission authorised the deal Tuesday, with no situations. Likewise, Amazon earlier knowledgeable the FTC that it had “substantially complied” with requests for details about the deal.
According to Amazon, MGM’s employees will be a part of the organisation of Mr Mike Hopkins, senior vice-president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios.
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MGM bolsters Amazon Prime Video’s providing with greater than 4,000 movie titles, in addition to this 12 months’s Oscar-nominated Licorice Pizza and a protracted checklist of tv reveals which will assist Amazon compete with streaming rivals Netflix and Disney+.
Hopkins praised MGM’s “broad slate of original films and television shows”.
“We welcome MGM employees, creators, and talent to Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and we look forward to working together,” he stated in an announcement.
An FTC spokesman declined to touch upon the precise transaction however famous that the company could problem a deal after it closes “if it determines that it violates the law”.
The FTC has a broader probe open into Amazon as a part of authorities antitrust investigations begun underneath the Trump administration into the 4 huge tech platforms, together with Facebook and Google.
