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Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#761

Post by megablast »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #487
darkwizard42 wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually a better way to think about it is that they are compensating their shareholders... That $77B that is now returned to shareholders can be spent on whatever those shareholders want. It isn't really Apple's money to begin with... kind of the issue with being a public company. Unless of course its shareholders would look at that investment as sound, which might be a stretch given Apple's lack of background in an…

> That $77B that is now returned to shareholders can be spent on whatever those shareholders want. It isn't really Apple's money to begin with... kind of the issue with being a public company. Apple and its shareholders are the same entity when discussing “whose” money it is. If shareholders want it used to do buybacks, they vote for company leadership to do that. If they want dividends, they vote for company leaders…

> If shareholders want it used to do buybacks, they vote for company leadership to do that.

Only if there is an option to do that.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#762

Post by dalbasal »

fairity wrote: post #673
dalbasal wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They're no longer shareholders. And, since buybacks are value neutral... they're not getting a premium when they sell.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#764

Post by nautilus12 »

frankbreetz wrote: post #103
nautilus12 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are close to hitting a critical point in terms of political and economic power where they literally will no longer be able to be stopped. We will have no recourse but to replace our government with Amazon. It will be like Buy n Large in Wall-e.

I disagree, there is a lot the government could do. Amazon is nothing with out the US Government. Protection of all of it's property, maintaining infrastructure, both the internet and transportation system. Simply charging business for the wear and tear the place on the roads would be a start.

I think your underestimating Amazon and overestimating the government

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#765

Post by ajmurmann »

_0w8t wrote: post #505
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.

In [1] Arthur De Vany showed rather convincingly that the split between distribution and production for movie production made things worse for the consumers. The problem is that the profit of the whole industry is dominated by very few titles and that split lead to a few non-trivial consequences like lack of diversity in Hollywood. [1] - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0415312612?psc=1&ref=ppx_po... EDIT: one of the…

> Until the antitrust laws were used to break them up, the studios contracted stars, script writers, directors, distribution networks and movie theaters in order to own the entire stream of revenues all their movies would generate.

Interesting. I was entirely unaware of that history. I was always impressed by Michael Ovitz's bundling play at CAA. Seems like he in fact "just" rebundled what he could at the agency level.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#766

Post by eric-hu »

xsmasher wrote: post #688
eric-hu wrote: post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite McDonald’s, but KFC released: - a limited edition gaming console in partnership with Cooler Master (with integrated chicken heater): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFConsole - a Lifetime mini-movie starring Christian Slater as Colonel Sanders in “A Recipe for Seduction”: https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/kfc-colonel-sanders-mario-l... - a dating sim video game, “I Love You Colonel Sanders”: https://store.st…

A.C. Slater, not Christian Slater.

Dang, I’m past the edit window. Thanks for the correction.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#767

Post by grahamburger »

tomc1985 wrote: post #740
NikolaNovak wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not. I'm a computer geek, and I'm LONG past the point where setting up safe VMs and signing up to half a dozen services like newsgroup server and directories and search engines and what nots, download software with impossible names like sabnzbd (I'm waiting up for somebody to scream how nobody uses sabnzbd anymore, it's been replaced by jidwiaj and iqerqip, which are super easy, and that just proves my po…

Yeah, you could do that... or get an invite to a private torrent site and go wild with a cheap seedbox Like, what even is all that other stuff?

He's talking about all the stuff to set up to actually watch the stuff you pirate. Like, on a TV, from your couch, using a remote, without fussing with an HDMI cable to your laptop every time. Or setting up your kids / SO to watch on a tablet, phone, etc. Just getting the files without getting caught is only like a quarter of the battle.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#768

Post by bombcar »

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #602
bombcar wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's more amazing to me is Google had Chat and Docs/Sheets all ready to go and integrate and take on Office and instead they closed down chat and brought out Hangouts which I've still never understood.

It does seem like a big missed opportunity. My only thought is the failure of Wave loomed large and people didn’t want to repeat it. Consumer messengers with huge user bases all had simplified UIs and that seemed like a better market to try (repeatedly) to break into.

Supporting something for business for years is just not something Google has in its DNA.

Microsoft still hasn’t shut down Lynx yet.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#769

Post by [deleted] »

listenallyall wrote: post #733
DrBazza wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just made this comment myself. It's amazing how much casual violence there is in modern films that you just don't notice because it's everywhere. I've watched more black and white classics in the last 15 months than I have in the last 20 years. Particularly the old sci-fi, horror, and slapstick films. Harold Lloyd, The Three Stooges, and Chaplin. Plus all the old St Trinians, and Sherlock Holmes. Abbot and Coste…

Certainly no violence in the 3 Stooges. Lol, every episode would be considered a documentary of domestic abuse today.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#770

Post by tomc1985 »

grahamburger wrote: post #767
tomc1985 wrote: post #740

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you could do that... or get an invite to a private torrent site and go wild with a cheap seedbox Like, what even is all that other stuff?

He's talking about all the stuff to set up to actually watch the stuff you pirate. Like, on a TV, from your couch, using a remote, without fussing with an HDMI cable to your laptop every time. Or setting up your kids / SO to watch on a tablet, phone, etc. Just getting the files without getting caught is only like a quarter of the battle.

Even then... I run Kodi on a Shield, which pulls data from a NAS. Copy the files to the right folder and let Kodi rescan. Still simple... the hardest part is setting up the network drive
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