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Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#51

Post by astura »

lsiunsuex wrote: post #7

I asked years ago (and I'll ask again!) I wonder what Las Vegas would look like if tech companies started buying / building hotels in Vegas At one point MGM owned almost 1 third - half the strip (ish) - recently they've been selling off properties which is a shame, MGM properties are my preferred resorts. Maybe Amazon can breath some life into Excalibur or Luxor but it sounds like those are not part of the deal

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc, which is the MGM Amazon bought is not the same company as MGM Resorts International, which is the MGM that owns casinos. The casino people become an independent company year and years ago.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#52

Post by skinnymuch »

lsiunsuex wrote: post #7

I asked years ago (and I'll ask again!) I wonder what Las Vegas would look like if tech companies started buying / building hotels in Vegas At one point MGM owned almost 1 third - half the strip (ish) - recently they've been selling off properties which is a shame, MGM properties are my preferred resorts. Maybe Amazon can breath some life into Excalibur or Luxor but it sounds like those are not part of the deal

MGM the studio was spun off from the much more profitable and burgeoning casino segment around the early 80s. Since then, tons of different buyers have gone in and out for the casino. Maybe MGM the studio too.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#53

Post by loceng »

someperson wrote: post #17

This makes it very likely that the beloved Stargate franchise will return as an Amazon Prime exclusive franchise, which will be great news for those of us like myself with appetite for 60+ more seasons of that show (after the 17 seasons that have already been made). I watched the sci-fi show "The Expanse" on Amazon Prime Video. Season 4 (the one made by Amazon Prime Video) felt like it had a tenth of the budget compa…

I'm hoping they'd drop $1+ billion into making a SG game.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#54

Post by skinnymuch »

astura wrote: post #51
lsiunsuex wrote: post #7

I asked years ago (and I'll ask again!) I wonder what Las Vegas would look like if tech companies started buying / building hotels in Vegas At one point MGM owned almost 1 third - half the strip (ish) - recently they've been selling off properties which is a shame, MGM properties are my preferred resorts. Maybe Amazon can breath some life into Excalibur or Luxor but it sounds like those are not part of the deal

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc, which is the MGM Amazon bought is not the same company as MGM Resorts International, which is the MGM that owns casinos. The casino people become an independent company year and years ago.

Names are similar because they were one company until 40 years ago

Edit: comment was edited a bit. Before it mentioned the names are similar but unrelated.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#55

Post by enragedcacti »

ameister14 wrote: post #18
frankbreetz wrote: post #8

If I had to pick a single politically uniting issue, breaking up Amazon and big tech would be it. Why has this not happened yet? Is the out of power party afraid the in power party will get credit? (This has been discussed when both parties were in power) If the government can't get something with this kind of support done, I fear the road we are headed down .

I don't think that people are united about breaking up Amazon and frankly I don't really see the damage to consumer necessary to break it up; products come faster, cheaper. Could you articulate why Amazon should be broken up? Most of the arguments I've seen boil down to "It's so big" and not really "It's effectively dominated x market and there is no competition there" or even "they are harming competition by pre-ins…

I would split it into three things:

1. They have the size and market control to crush and/or acquire all competitors e.g. diapers.com https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-29/amazon-em...

2. They purport to operate a neutral marketplace where they aren't responsible for the end product while also controlling what products you see and what company you will buy from and choose the ones that give them the best margin. The huge problem of counterfeit and faulty products on Amazon directly harms the consumer and because of (1) there isn't a general market remedy.

3. They leverage their position as market maker to figure out what products to manufacture and undercut innovative companies with their massive scale. In the short term this is a net benefit to consumers who get a cheaper product but it creates a mess of bad incentives down the line.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#56

Post by athenot »

libertine wrote: post #38
scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #23

So what we're seeing is a repeat of the film industry from 1930's-1950's. You want to see a Paramount movie, you must go to a Paramount theater. Today you want to watch an Apple show you must go to Apple's VOD. We could really use laws that force, once again, some sort of separation between production and distribution. Better stuff gets made in this kind of ecosystem.

This will be my prediction: the usage of piracy to consume this type of content will increase. And they will blame PLATFORM X (or just the ol'piratebay) for the losses of revenue, when in reality it's just a matter of people not being able to access content because everything has a paywall gate. It's like they want to bring cable TV back to the internet, and you had massive bills just for channels subscriptions.

> It's like they want to bring cable TV back to the internet, and you had massive bills just for channels subscriptions.

Basically, yes. More precisely we have a handful of companies who worked to "disrupt" the cable TV business only to realize that in fact, they could become the new cable TV.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#57

Post by presty »

wut42 wrote: post #16

> The deal can be viewed as a doubling down on business strategy that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, articulated at a conference in 2016: “When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes,” he had said, referring to Amazon's diverse business divisions. This part is a real nugget.

for what is worth, Amazon already won a few golden globes:

3 this year https://www.geekwire.com/2021/amazon-takes-3-golden-globes-i...

a few more in the past with Fleabag and others

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