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Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#671

Post by disqard »

socialist_coder wrote: post #598

I wish people didn't watch so much television. It's too good and too easy to watch an unlimited amount of content. Every hour you spend being entertained in front of your screens is an hour less you could be spending building actual social bonds with people in your community. There is a correlation to increasing tv watching and decreased social club engagement. By social clubs I mean bowling clubs, skating clubs, 4H…

I'm surprised that your insightful comment (questioning the very elephant-in-the-room assumption that we all must have content to consume) has not been voted higher by this community of hackers, tinkerers, and makers.

Indeed, why is this so central to our lives? Why isn't a different kind of shared activity more sought-after?

Your point about the sheer variety is also relevant -- there's just too many echo chambers of consumption for everyone now.

Overall, the creative force has nary a chance to flourish in such environs.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#672

Post by beloch »

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.

A century ago, if Library's hadn't existed, someone trying to create one might have had a chance. Today they'd have no chance at all.

If you think to today's U.S. government would willingly choose to fight the U.S. vs Paramount battle again, you'll probably be disappointed. They're far more likely to close libraries.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#673

Post by fairity »

dalbasal wrote: post #668
fairity wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If their best investment is other companies' bonds, they should (again, in theory) just return cash to investors who can buy the bonds themselves. This is what they're effectively doing, in practice. AAPL has conducted ~$500B in share buybacks since the commencement of their buyback program in 2013. Their current cash and cash equivalents sits at ~$200B. So, one could say that of the $700B AAPl could have returned…

I'm not sure we should accept "returned to shareholders" at face value. Nothing is really returned to shareholders. Shareholders own that money (as they own all Apple's assets) before the buyback. After the buyback, they no longer own the money... but share value has (in theory) not changed because it now represents a larger portion of this smaller asset.

In the case of a buyback, cash is literally returned to the shareholders who participate in the tender offer by selling their shares back to the company.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#674

Post by joe_the_user »

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.

Well, the end of the 1930's to 1950's vertical monopoly shouldn't detract from the many ways the entertainment industry is monopolistic today. Indeed, my impression is no one could even summarize all the ways unions, rights, contracts and etc divide profits, limit who can do what, etc.

My impression buying a historical piece of the entertainment industries is a lot like buying a company with large patent portfolio. No one knows whether the buyer is going to use the pieces "offensively" to cut off the rights of others or "defensively", to get leverage for cross licenses and so-forth.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#675

Post by drexlspivey »

RandallBrown wrote: post #660
Dumblydorr wrote: post #322

Does anyone else think Amazon will acquire video game producers next? When I look at digital content, this seems the one area they're not already in, as they have TV, movies, books, but no games.

They already sorta do that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Games

There was a huge backlash recently when they announced microtransactions and pay-to-win features on their upcoming MMO called New World

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#676

Post by manquer »

twoodfin wrote: post #543
paulpan wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this vein, $8.45B seems a bargain for the likes of Apple to instantly booster their very limited TV+ offerings. Was this an exclusive, closed door negotiation between owners of MGM and Amazon? I'm perplexed how the final price isn't a lot higher due to a potential bidding war between all the streaming giants. Even Netflix would benefit - if anything to force competitors to pay more.

What about MGM’s back catalog makes Apple TV+ qualitatively more compelling to your marginal subscriber? Versus say spending that same $8.5B on new content? There’s not much “forward looking” IP of value tied to MGM except the Bond franchise, and it sounds like the Broccoli’s aren’t giving up control of that in this deal.

Not yet. The key is to keep adding properties and unlock other deals, eventually Amazon/Apple could convince broccoli in ways MGM never can try. Deeper pockets, way better distribution etc.

It took several deals for Disney to line up MCU fully. They spent a lot on Pixar, star wars and MCU , fox acquisitions to become the force they are today.

Without these acquisitions, Disney would also be largely a back catalog like MGM being sold today .

The theory is that sum of the properties are worth more than each individually.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#677

Post by neuralRiot »

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.

>We could really use laws that force, once again, some sort of separation between production and distribution.

Why? We’re not talking about food, water or the environment. There is where laws should be enacted or enforced.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#678

Post by matwood »

minusSeven wrote: post #360
johnchristopher wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Frankly, I'm glad I have a waning interest in modern movies as I get older, and I'm actually more interested in watching old black and white movies that are "free to air" in my country. My mother recently gave me a sub-account to Netflix and while I was thrilled to rewatch some shows I liked (like the OA or good old star trek) I was quickly submerged by the sheer amount of YA novels adapted in TV shows or movies th…

Well Netflix formula is throw a bunch of stones in the ocean and see what sticks and then make more of it. Its a bad strategy because users waste time watching content they would rather not watch. HBO imo is the only platform that focus on quality rather than the number of shows.

I would argue Apple is trying to follow the HBO formula. They are not quite there yet, but the Apple shows I have watched have all been good, with Ted Lasso being great.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#679

Post by manquer »

rhino369 wrote: post #493
magicalhippo wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The meaninglessness of $8.45b relative to amazon's scale is mind boggling. My coworked compared it to the Dogecoin marketcap of $44b... kinda puts things in perspective.

Crypto "market cap" isn't really comparable to the market cap of companies. Nobody would (or could) ever buy Dogecoin for 44b. But companies are usually purchased for more than market cap.

No one can buy Amazon or Tesla at their market cap today either.

Sure companies valuation are backed by revenue and profit numbers unlike crypto.

However the multiples both these companies trade at along with the way Amazon treats "profit" their dividend habits means no buyer can actually recoup the investment by means of profits generated in a reasonable investment window.

The only way to make actual money with these stock is to sell it even higher not that different from crypto.

Look at last 2 years of the stock market even ignoring GME/AMC there seem to very little correlation with the actual numbers for these companies.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#680

Post by divbzero »

awb wrote: post #593
chrisin2d wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A customer buys into the Amazon Prime bundle. You can get standalone Amazon Prime Video membership — buuut it's about the same price as complete Amazon Prime membership! So you might as well get the complete membership and get all the perks you might want in the future. And bam, you're now in the Amazon Prime universe. One day you'll be comparison shopping for a specific pair of shoes you like online, and you'll see…

Sure, just surprised that people are finding Amazon through Prime Video and not the other way around.

I think it is usually the other way around: people are finding Prime Video through Amazon. I suspect many would subscribe to Prime for deliveries even if Prime Video didn’t exist, and few would subscribe to Prime for Prime Video alone.
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