Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) was given the greenlight from EU regulators for its US$8.45bn acquisition of movie studio giant MGM with antitrust regulators saying there were no competition concerns.
"The Commission found that MGM's upstream activities as a producer and licensor of AV content are limited compared to other market players' activities," a statement from the European Commission said. "MGM's content cannot be considered as must-have; and a wide variety of alternative content exists."
The studio behind James Bond and Creed is expected to add to Amazon’s streaming offering through both historic titles and original features, as the streaming arms race proliferates.
“The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of [intellectual property] in the deep catalogue that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team,” Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said in announcing the deal last year.
But completion of the purchase still rests on US regulators, with the Federal Trade Commission required to sign off on any deal for MGM.
Shares in Amazon were up 3.89% to US$2,947.33 by close yesterday.