AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Highlights
- Amazon- MGM proposed acquisition gets green signal from ACCC.
- ACCC finds no considerable reduction in Australian competition from this deal.
Amazon and MGM’s merger has got green light in Australia. ACCC the Australian competition watchdog believes the deal will not substantially lessen competition in Australia.
Why is ACCC not opposing the Amazon-MGM deal?
- The ACCC’s investigation on the Amazon-MGM proposed acquisition was aimed at checking whether it would likely withhold or worsen other audio- video content exhibitors to access MGM and impact competition.
- Thus the ACCC considered the significance MGM’s titles held to exhibitors like cinemas and streaming platforms to study the impact of reduced access on downstream
- ACCC’s investigation found that Australian exhibitors are not heavily reliant on MGM content to attract customers.
- It further clarified that MGM only had a small share in Australian theatrical releases over recent years.
- Since 2016, except the James Bond franchise, these accounted to lower than 6% of total Australian box office collections a year.
- ACCC also witnessed in its investigation that many streaming platforms ran successfully in Australia, without licensing any or minimal MGM content.
- This has led to the ACCC’s conclusion that even if Amazon were to reduce MGM’s licensing to third parties, it would not result in a substantial reduction in competition in Australia.
Amazon and MGM’s road ahead-
Amazon is a diversified digital platform and MGM is a Hollywood studio into global distribution of films. The proposed merger is to benefit Amazon’s most relevant business of audio-visual content production via Amazon Studios, and stream on its Prime Video platform. While they have received ACCC’s nod in Australia, the proposed acquisition is still subject to reviews and regulatory nods in other jurisdictions, especially, in the US.
From ASX -Cronos Australia (ASX:CAU) shares rise on merger news
