Fresh reports from The Information and Variety point to rumors of ongoing talks that include Amazon offering $9 billion to acquire storied media company MGM. At stake would be the rights to a collection of thousands of movies and episodes of TV programming, including well-known franchises like James Bond, Stargate, and Rocky.
Initial reports from The Information suggest Amazon has been aiming for a price range between $7 billion and $10 billion. Variety’s reporting puts the figure at $9 billion. If the rumors pan out and the deal is made, Amazon would gain the keys to a considerable back catalog of content from the nearly century-old company. Along with the franchises cited above, MGM’s name is also on a number of other current and classic hits, like The Voice and Survivor on TV, as well as films like The Silence of the Lambs and The Hobbit series.
Of course, at this point, we’re still dealing with rumors, but we’ll definitely keep an eye on this story as it develops. Amazon certainly has deep pockets and has shown a recent desire to spend billions on content for its Prime Video streaming service. And acquiring a library as large and as varied as MGM’s could significantly bolster the service’s overall catalog. For now, it remains to be seen whether Amazon ends up adding MGM to its cart and proceeding to checkout.