BAM!: Bezos Buys Bond, etc; Blizzard Says No BlizzCon this year;

Amazon.com Inc. said it has agreed to acquire the Hollywood studio MGM in a deal that the e-commerce company is betting can jump-start its Prime Video streaming platform and position it to compete with industry heavyweights including Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. The purchase, which was unveiled Wednesday morning, has an equity value of $6.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Including debt, the value of the deal is $8.45 billion, Amazon said. It would be the second-largest acquisition in the company’s history behind its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017. In MGM, Amazon will get a library of more than 4,000 films, including franchises such as James Bond and Rocky, and classics such as “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Raging Bull” and “12 Angry Men.” The TV catalog includes critically acclaimed shows such as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Fargo” and “Vikings.” Blizzard Entertainment announced today that it will not be holding an in-person BlizzCon event this year due to the “ongoing complexities and uncertainties of the pandemic.” BlizzCon traditionally happens every year around the start of November at the Anaheim Convention Center, attracting tens of thousands of attendees. Even with COVID restrictions relaxing across the U.S., it may not be time for such a big gathering. Blizzard is planning another online show for the early part of next year, along with “smaller in-person gatherings.”