Amazon has agreed to buy MGM, the Hollywood film studios famous for making the James Bond movies, for $8.45bn (£6bn).
Last week we reported how the tech giant was said to be "weeks into negotiations" on the billion-dollar deal. Now that it's signed and sealed, Amazon's Prime Video streaming service could soon have access to some of the most iconic movies ever made.
MGM – or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to give it its full name – is home to James Bond and classics such as Rocky, Ben Hur, Singin' In The Rain, The Silence of the Lambs, The Pink Panther and The Wizard of Oz. More recently, it's produced hit TV shows such as Fargo.
There's no word on when MGM's library of 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows will be made available on Amazon Prime Video, nor if Bond movies will will be offered as part of Amazon's £7.99 ($7.99) per month Prime subscription or on a 'pay-per-view' basis.
However, with Amazon facing stiff competition from streaming rivals such as Apple TV+, Disney Plus and Netflix, we'd expect to see MGM content appear on Prime sooner rather than later.
Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said: "The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of Intellectual Property in the deep catalogue that we plan to re-imagine and develop together with MGM's talented team." So there you have it.
Amazon's takeover of MGM will need to be approved by competition regulators, although that's considered to be a formality at this point in the process.
Lastly, if you're wondering if the new Bond blockbuster, No Time To Die, will get a theatrical release on Prime rather than in the cinema, it won't. The producers behind James Bond have said that the sale of MGM will not affect the film's upcoming (and much delayed) release.
Earlier this month, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that Prime had surpassed 200 million subscribers. The company spent $11 billion on streaming rights last year, including $1 billion on NFL games alone. It's even launched a free streaming service called MiniTV in India. And now it has Bond.
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