Activate Consulting co-founder and CEO Michael Wolf provides insight into the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger and the ongoing streaming wars.
Amazon announced Wednesday it reached a deal to buy Hollywood studio MGM for $8.45 billion as it looks to keep pace in the highly competitive streaming content space.
The deal will add a catalog of more than 4,000 films and 17,000 shows to Amazon’s portfolio, which has so far mostly been mostly focused on producing TV shows. Titles that will enter the Amazon catalog, so long as the deal is approved by regulators, include the “James Bond” and “Rocky” franchises and “The Handmaid’s Tale” TV series.
“The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team,” said Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, in a statement.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM, INC. | 3,259.05 | +14.06 | +0.43% |
The acquisition, which is CEO Jeff Bezos’ largest since the online retailer purchased Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017, follows AT&T Inc.’s $43 billion combination of its WarnerMedia division with Discovery Communications Inc., creating a streaming giant to compete with Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+ and Netflix.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T | AT&T, INC. | 29.53 | -0.24 | -0.81% |
| DISCA | DISCOVERY, INC. | 30.66 | -0.62 | -1.98% |
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 176.24 | +1.97 | +1.13% |
| NFLX | NETFLIX, INC. | 501.34 | -1.56 | -0.31% |
This story is developing, Check back for updates.
