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A deal that will see Amazon purchase MGM Holdings, the studio behind the James Bond franchise, could be imminent. Following a report from Variety last week, the Wall Street Journal now reports that such an acquisition could be announced sometime this week. [Update: Sure enough, the news is official: Amazon is buying MGM.]
News of such a sale even being considered was first reported back in December. The WSJ report reaffirms the sale amount–$9 billion–that Variety had previously shared. If this does happen, it would be Amazon’s second-biggest acquisition ever, only trailing Whole Foods, which went for $13.7 billion in 2017.
Variety noted that among those involved in the talks are senior VP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video Mike Hopkins and MGM board chairman Kevin Urlich. Representatives from both companies have declined to comment, as you’d expect.
In addition to James Bond, MGM’s film library has more than 4,000 titles and 17,000 hours of television programming, including film franchises like Rocky and The Hobbit as well as television shows like Vikings. MGM had reportedly been seeking a $600 million fee to bring No Time to Die to a streaming service during the pandemic. It’s unclear how the release of that movie (or any other) would be impacted by an Amazon acquisition.
As when rumors of the sale first came out, a sale would not be a total shock. COVID-19 had deeply wounded smaller players (like MGM), who were unable to release its films in theaters. While MGM is much bigger than just James Bond, one need only look to that franchise to gain an insight into what might be happening at the studio: No Time To Die, the upcoming 007 flick, has gone from a November 2019 scheduled release date to enduring several releases before (for now) seemingly holding firm to an October 8, 2021 release. James Bond is just one of many properties MGM owns, but given the recently announced James Bond 007 video game, there’s still plenty of gas left in the studio’s tank and strong interest in its franchises.
