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XAmazon Buys MGM for $8.45B, Acquires Bond Franchise
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake

Ninety-six years after Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures merged to form MGM Studios, the Hollywood mainstay best known for its roaring lion mascot is set to join a trillion-dollar business empire best known for selling household items over the internet. Amazon Inc. has acquired MGM for $8.45 billion, the companies said Wednesday.
The move culminates Century City-based MGM's prolonged search for a buyer that has been rumored for over a decade. In 2018, former chief executive Gary Barber was fired just five months after signing a multi-year extension, amid an internal dispute over how the company was handling an entertainment industry being reshaped by streaming. An impersonal "office of the CEO" has since led the studio.
"The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM's talented team," Amazon's senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios said in a statement.
MGM counts over 4,000 films among its assets, including "Silence of the Lambs," "12 Angry Men," "Rocky" and "Tomb Raider." Its TV shows include "The Handmaid's Tale," "Fargo" and "Vikings" as well as reality series "Survivor," "The Real Housewives" and "Shark Tank." MGM also owns the premier pay-TV channel Epix. The company reportedly earned just shy of $1.5 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year.
Amazon inherits these assets, along with the crown jewel that is the James Bond franchise, which will see its 25th installment released this fall with "No Time to Die." That trophy comes with a caveat, however, as MGM has shared copyright of the franchise with the British Wilson/Broccoli family, which retains significant decision-making power over the asset.
The MGM acquisition is Amazon's second-largest, behind the $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017.
The deal is the latest in an increasingly consolidating entertainment industry. Earlier this month, AT&T's WarnerMedia merged with Discovery that essentially completed the telecom company's departure from the entertainment business.
Although outgoing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said streaming's main value to his company is that it helps to sell more shoes – Amazon Prime Video is included in Amazon's Prime subscription offering, alongside other perks like free shipping – the company's ambitions in streaming have been substantial. It launched its own studio in Culver City in 2010 and is reportedly spending nearly half a billion dollars to produce the first season of a "Lord of the Rings" TV series. To stream the NFL's Thursday night franchise, it is paying an average of $1.2 billion per year. The company also operates ad-supported service IMDB TV.
Most analysts agree the average consumer wants to pay for no more than four or five streaming subscriptions. Netflix and Disney have separated themselves from the pack, and recently locked up most of Sony, one of the few remaining arms dealers, in a long-term licensing deal.
Though Amazon's precise streaming ambitions within its sprawling empire are unclear, insiders consider its track record of producing hits out of its in-house studio relatively uninspiring. A new looming threat created by the Warner-Discovery deal likely added urgency within Amazon to make a move.
The deal remains subject to regulatory approval. Amazon was sued earlier this week by the attorney general for Washington, D.C., for abusing its market power in its online marketplace.
The other contestants in the streaming war may not wait for regulatory resolution before opting to make a move of their own. ViacomCBS, which runs Paramount Plus, and Comcast's NBCUniversal, which runs Peacock, are both falling behind. Recent calls out of COVID-embattled Japan to cancel this year's Tokyo Olympic Games are worrying to NBC, which owns rights to the Games and has long harbored plans to use them to Peacock's benefit.
Apple, which like Amazon is a deep-pocketed, tech-first company that has forayed into streaming but lacks a clearly defined entertainment strategy, also remains in the mix.
MGM's $8.45 billion price tag equates to about 40% of Amazon's 2020 operating profit and just over half a percent of its $1.64 trillion market cap–over seven times the size of Netflix's and five times the size of Disney's.
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Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
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This Week in ‘Raises’: Improvado Hauls $22M, Clearlake Launches $14B Fund
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
This week in “Raises”: A pair of Web3 platforms for gamers landed funding, as did a Manhattan Beach medical startup looking to bolster primary care via nurse practitioners. Meanwhile, a Santa Monica-based investment firm launched its seventh fund with more than $14 billion in dry powder.
Venture Capital
Improvado, a marketing data aggregation platform, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Updata Partners.
Web3 gaming platform FreshCut raised $15 million in funding led by Galaxy Interactive, Animoca Brands and Republic Crypto.
Medical startup Greater Good Health raised $10 million in a funding round led by LRVHealth.
Joystick, a Web3 platform for gamers and creators, raised $8 million in seed funding.
Open source data protection company CipherMode Labs raised $6.7 million in seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors .
Mobile phone charging network ChargeFUZE raised $5 million in seed funding led by Beverly Pacific, TR Ventures, VA2, Jason Goldberg and Al Weiss.
Polygon, a startup aiming to better diagnose children with learning disabilities, raised $4.2 million in seed and pre-seed funding led by Spark Capital and Pear VC.
Pique, a virtual women's sexual health clinic, raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Maveron.
Psudo, a sneaker startup that utilizes recycled water bottles and 3D sublimation printing to create its shoes, raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by SternAegis Ventures.
Funds
Santa Monica-based investment firm Clearlake Capital Group raised $14.1 billion for its seventh flagship fund.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Kristin Snyder (kristinsnyder@dot.la).Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: New Head of Originals at Snap, New President at FaZe Clan
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
“Moves”, our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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FaZe Clan brought on Zach Katz as the gaming and media company’s new president and chief operating officer. Katz was previously the chief executive officer of the music tech investment fund Raised in Space Enterprises.
TikTok brand factory LINK Agency promoted Dustin Poteet to chief creative officer. Poteet was previously creative director at the firm.
Livestream shopping platform Talkshoplive hired Tradesy co-founder John Hall as its chief technology officer. Universal Music Group Nashville's former vice president of digital marketing, Tony Grotticelli, also joins the company as vice president of marketing.
Anjuli Millan will take over as head of original content at Snap after three years of overseeing production for the division.
Tech and media company Blavity hired Nikki Crump as general manager of agency. Crump joins the company from Burrell Communications Group.
O'Neil Digital Solutions, which provides customer communications and experience management for the health care industry, hired Eric Ramsey as national account sales executive. Ramsey joins from T/O Printing.
Investment firm Cresset Partners named Tammy Funasaki as managing director of business development. Funasaki previously served as head of investor relations for Breakwater Management.
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Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Snapchat’s New Controls Could Let Parents See Their Kids’ Friend Lists
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Snapchat is preparing to roll out enhanced parental controls that would allow parents to see who their teenagers are chatting with on the social media app, according to screenshots of the upcoming feature.
Snap’s parental controls.
Courtesy of Watchful.
Snapchat is planning to introduce Family Center, which would allow parents to see who their children are friends with on the app and who they’ve messaged within the last seven days, according to screenshots provided by Watchful, a product intelligence company. Parents would also be able help their kids report abuse or harassment.
The parental controls are still subject to change before finally launching publicly, as the Family Center screenshots—which were first reported by TechCrunch—reflect features that are still under development.
Santa Monica-based Snap and other social media giants have faced mounting criticism for not doing more to protect their younger users—some of whom have been bullied, sold deadly drugs and sexually exploited on their platforms. State attorneys general have urged Snap and Culver City-based TikTok to strengthen their parental controls, with both companies’ apps especially popular among teens.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Snap representatives have told dot.LA that the company is developing tools that will provide parents with more insight into how their children are engaging on Snapchat and allow them to report troubling content.
Yet Snap’s approach to parental controls could still give teens some privacy, as parents wouldn’t be able to read the actual content of their kids’ conversations, according to TechCrunch. (The Family Center screenshots seen by dot.LA do not detail whether parents can see those conversations).
In addition, teenage users would first have to accept an invitation from their parents to join the in-app Family Center before those parents can begin monitoring their social media activity, TechCrunch reported.
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.