FTC launches investigation into Amazon acquisition of MGM: report

The Federal Trade Commission launches an investigation into the almost $ 8.5 billion offer to acquire MGM Studios, information reported on Friday.

The FTC, newly led by an Amazon voice critic Lina khan, will focus its investigation on “the broader implications of the deal for Amazon’s market power,” two people familiar with the matter told the outlet. According to these sources, the agency fears that this merger will “illegally increase Amazon’s ability to offer a wide range of goods and services, and is not limited to the production and distribution of content.

In May, Amazon announced that it has reached an agreement to buy MGM and, with it, the rights to the film from the former cinema studio and TV library. Close to $ 8.45 billion is one of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions to date, just after its $ 13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017.

Of course, geven the one from Amazon balance sheet of antitrust lawsuits and complaints, federal control seemed inevitable. the The Wall Street Journal confirmed these rumors on June 22, report that an FTC merger investigation was under construction. Not long after, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called the FTC to thoroughly examine the potential for “anti-competitive effects ”this agreement could have both on the entertainment industry and on stranglehold on other markets, she writes in a letter to Khan reviewed by the edge.

This investigation would be the latest push at the federal level dismantle some of America’s biggest companies. Earlier Friday, President Joe Biden signed a large decree aimed at promoting competition in the US economy, especially in Silicon Valley. He urges the FCC to reassess net neutrality standards for broadband companies and roll back anti-competitive practices restrictions that force consumers to rely on manufacturers to fix their gadgets. The campaign to explode Big Tech also secured bipartisan support in Congress, which recently introduced new oneantitrust law intended for limit their power and increase competition in the market.