- Sep 10, 2017
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Wall Street Journal confirms that active conversations have been happening, and that Covid and the delay of Bond threw things in disarray.
Can't say I'm impressed with MGM's arguments about Covid helping its chances, it sounds like Covid killed the marketplace and now they're trying to salvage their value wherever they can. That having been said, MGM under Comcast sounds interesting, although there are big question marks hanging over the whole thing (merchandising for Bond, for example, is owned by Danjaq, not MGM).
In recent months, Mr. Ulrich has said he is working toward a deal and has cited Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Comcast Corp. and Facebook Inc. as possible buyers. He has also said that while MGM’s production business has suffered because of the pandemic, its library of more than 4,000 titles has become more valuable because of the dearth of new content.
A person close to Anchorage said Mr. Ulrich believes MGM is a more-attractive asset because it hasn’t released “No Time to Die,” giving a buyer control over its launch and distribution.
MGM has a deal with Universal Pictures to distribute “No Time to Die” internationally; a new owner would likely need to compensate Universal if it decided to work with another distribution partner, said a person familiar with how the distribution landscape works.
MGM was close to a deal with a Chinese buyer in 2016 for roughly $8 billion, said people familiar with the matter. Mr. Ulrich, a board member at the time, was supportive of the deal, said a person close to him. The deal fell apart as China cracked down on overseas investments, the person said.
In 2018, Mr. Ulrich, by then the board chairman, and others on the board fired Mr. Barber for having early, unsanctioned conversations with Apple to sell the studio for more than $6 billion. The preliminary talks fell apart when he was ousted. Minority shareholders protested, with Owl Creek founder Jeffrey Altman sending a letter to the board saying Owl Creek and other shareholders wanted a deal.
Mr. Ulrich told unhappy investors he could sell the studio for more than $8 billion in two to three years, MGM investors said.
An MGM spokeswoman last week said, “The Apple deal was a rumor.”
Can't say I'm impressed with MGM's arguments about Covid helping its chances, it sounds like Covid killed the marketplace and now they're trying to salvage their value wherever they can. That having been said, MGM under Comcast sounds interesting, although there are big question marks hanging over the whole thing (merchandising for Bond, for example, is owned by Danjaq, not MGM).