Amazon (AMZN) has closed its $8.45 billion U.S. acquisition of the MGM movie studio, a deal that gives the e-commerce giant ownership of popular film franchises such as James Bond and Rocky.
The addition of MGM is expected to give a boost to Prime Video and help Amazon ramp up its original programming, enabling it to better compete against streaming giants such as Netflix (NFLX) and Disney+ (DIS).
“We welcome MGM employees, creators, and talent to Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and we look forward to working together to create even more opportunities to deliver quality storytelling to our customers,” said Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, in a company issued blog post.
MGM has a catalog of more than 4,000 film titles, including popular franchises such as James Bond, Rocky, The Pink Panther and Stargate.
Along with thousands of TV episodes and the potential for spinoffs and reboots, Amazon said MGM will enable it to deliver diverse entertainment choices to consumers.
The deal closed after a U.S. regulatory waiting period and signoff earlier this week by the European Union’s antitrust agency. The deal is Amazon’s biggest acquisition since its $13.7 billion U.S. purchase of Whole Foods in 2017.
