Amazon in talks to buy MGM for $9bn - reports

Amazon is understood to be in talks to acquire MGM for $9bn, as the online giant looks to further bolster its growing presence in content and streaming.

Reports of Amazon’s interest in MGM, the film studio behind the James Bond films, comes just a day after AT&T agreed to spin off its WarnerMedia business, owner of Warner Bros, through a $43bn merger with Discovery.

News of the potential tie-up between Amazon and MGM was first reported by The Information. So far neither MGM nor Amazon have commented on the reports.

In recent years, Amazon has expanded far beyond its traditional online retailing roots into media and entertainment. The year before, it spent $11bn creating, acquiring or licensing music and video content for Prime subscribers, up from $7.8bn in 2019.

Founder and outgoing chief executive Jeff Bezos told shareholders the month before that Amazon now has more than 200m Prime subscribers, up from 150m at the start of 2020.

MGM, meanwhile, is understood to have first started exploring a sale last year, and was reported to have approached Morgan Stanley and LionTree to manage the process. MGM's biggest shareholder is US hedge fund Anchorage Capital.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Avatrade, said: “The war for content and to become the biggest player in the content industry continues. Yesterday we heard AT&T’s big news and today it is about the potential acquisition of the MGM movie studio.

"This is further confirmation that Amazon wants to leave no stone unturned, and it wants to become the biggest player in the content industry, to serve its clients. Yesterday we say the Disney and Netflix stock coming under pressure; Amazon’s news is likely to bring more adverse price action.”