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Jeff Bezos, a Real-Life Bond Villain, May Own James Bond Very Soon

Amazon owner Jeff Bezos talks at a Smbhav event in New Delhi, India.
Jeff Bezos attending Amazon’s annual Smbhav event in New Delhi on January 15, 2020.
Photo: Sajjad Hussein (Getty Images)

Amazon Studios has already given noted yacht owner Jeff Bezos a big way into the Hollywood media space, between its Prime Video streaming offerings and its big plans for movies and TV. Very soon, those plans are potentially about to become even bigger because Amazon is on the verge of acquiring one of the biggest studios around: MGM.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon’s recently rumored plans to acquire MGM have taken a major step forward, in a roughly $9 billion deal that is one of the e-commerce giant’s largest acquisitions. If the deal goes ahead, Amazon could make its ownership of MGM official by the end of this week. Founded in 1924, MGM is a hallmark of Hollywood as we know it today, one of the initial “Big Five” studios of the industry’s golden age alongside RKO Radio Pictures (which went bankrupt in the ‘50s), 20th Century Fox (now of course owned by Disney), Paramount Pictures (now a part of ViacomCBS), and Warner Bros., which was spun off by owner AT&T last week in a merger with Discovery.

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The acquisition of MGM and its vast catalog of films and shows—which includes classics like the James Bond franchise, Robocop, and more, alongside TV ventures like Stargate and The Handmaid’s Tale—will provide a huge boon for Amazon’s Prime Video streaming offerings, as the company continues to build on its original content, throwing oodles of cash at everything from superhero hits like The Boys and Invincible to its upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel series. If Amazon’s presence in the streaming space was already significant, owning MGM will just make it an even more dominant one.

We’ll bring you more on Amazon’s plans for MGM as and when we learn them.


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