05/26/2021 10:08
Clarín.com
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Updated 05/26/2021 10:55
After months of speculation, Amazon bought the MGM studios, creators of classic films such as the
James Bond
saga
,
Rocky, Thelma & Louise,
among other 4 thousand titles
for
$ 8.45 billion
.
The companies will merge into a deal that has the e-commerce giant acquiring the Hollywood studio.
In recent weeks it became known that Jeff Bezos - CEO and founder of Amazon, as well as the richest man in the world - had offered $ 9 billion for MGM, the former Metro Goldwin Mayer, the James Bond studio.
Upon completion of the operation, Amazon Prime Video, the streaming service, will add the studio's products to its library, among which, of course, the 007 saga and other cinema gems stand out.
Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon.
Photo: REUTERS.
“MGM has an extensive catalog with more than
4,000 films
:
12 Angry Men, Low Instincts, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop,
Rocky
, The Silence of the Innocents, Stargate,
Thelma & Louise
, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven,
The Pink Panther
, The Thomas Crown Affair
and many other icons, as well as
17,000 television shows
- including
Fargo,
The Handmaid's Tale
and Vikings
- which have collectively won more than
180 Academy Awards
and 100 Emmy Awards, ”said Mike Hopkins, senior vice president, Prime Video and Amazon Studios.
Elisabeth Moss in "The Handmaid's Tale"
“The real financial value behind this deal is the
treasure trove of intellectual property
in the deep catalog that we plan to reinvent and develop together with the talented team at MGM.
It's very exciting and offers many opportunities for high-quality storytelling, ”added Hopkins.
The legendary studio, born in 1924 from the merger of Metro Pictures, the theater magnate Marcus Loew's company, with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures, of the famous producer Louis B. Mayer, was always one of the most coveted pieces in the industry. .
The company had heard
dozens
of buyout and merger
offers
for decades
.
At the end of 2020, the New York investment fund Anchorage Capital Group, the majority owner of the studios' shares, approached investment banks Morgan Stanley and LionTree with a message: they
were ready to sell
.
The studio, located in Culver City, has
more than 170 Oscars, 12 of them in the Best Picture category
.
MGM had become a drag on Anchorage, which had seen its revenues cut in a year where the pandemic forced it to delay film and television projects.
The Rocky franchise will now go to Amazon.
The operation, subject to the green light of the regulators, coincides with recent movements of concentration in this market after the announcement last week of the
merger of WarnerMedia -owned by AT & T- and Discovery
, which will create a new competitor for the leaders of the "streaming" .
Kevin Ulrich, the chairman of the MGM board of directors, who had been looking for a buyer for several months, highlighted in the note the "incredible transformation" of the study and thanked the workers for their efforts to achieve this "historic day."
"I am very proud that the MGM Lion, which has long evoked the golden age of Hollywood, continues its successful story and that the idea born from the creation of the United Artists endures as the founders originally intended, led by talent and vision, "he added.
The
James Bond franchise
is one of the most valuable brands owned by MGM.
The studios are co-owners of the rights together with a production company linked to the Broccoli family, creator of the British spy.
The films accumulated a worldwide box office that exceeds
7,000 million dollars
.
Another asset that will become part of Amazon is the franchise of
eight films in the Rocky Balboa
and Adonis Creed
saga
, which grossed more than $ 1 billion.
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