“If you saw this morning’s announcement, we are looking forward to welcoming MGM to the Amazon fold,” Bezos told shareholders at the company’s previously scheduled annual meeting.
“We are really excited about MGM,” the founder and outgoing CEO said, touting the library of over 4,000 films and 7,000 television shows. “The acquisition thesis here is really very simple. MGM has a vast, deep catalogue of much beloved intellectual property. And with the talent at Amazon and the talent at MGM Studio, we can reimagine and develop that IP for the 21century. It will be a lot of fun work and people who love stories will be the big beneficiaries.”Bezos also announced that Andy Jassy, head of fast-growing Amazon Web Services, will take the CEO reins on July 5 as he segues to the role of executive chairman.
He spoke during a Q&A, taking a handful of shareholder questions, one on MGM. He seemed pleased but his comments — the first mention of the $8.75 billion deal — came towards the end of an event that lasted more than an hour and after presentations by multiple top level executives. That’s a reflection of the fact that the century-old studio is becoming a small piece of massive company.
People close to Amazon have said the company will continue to release movies in theaters. As for one very prized piece of IP,
I hope this merger works!