SEATTLE—Amazon has announced that it has completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM studios, giving the tech giant access to MGM’s library of 4,000+ film titles and 17,000+ TV episodes as well as the James Bond properties and other storied franchises.
The deal was approved earlier this week by European regulators but has not yet received formal approval from U.S. regulators.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the regulatory clock for challenging the deal with the agency expired, leaving Amazon free to move forward.
However, the commission would still have the ability to challenge the acquisition later, if a majority of the FTC votes to do so, the WSJ noted.
The deal, which was first announced last May, is part of a massive effort by Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video to ramp up original production and content spending, which hit $13 billion in 2021.
