Amazon to Buy MGM for $8.45 Billion, Gaining Access to Vast Trove of Titles Like ‘Rocky’ and ‘James Bond’

James Bond (Daniel Craig) leaping from the sliding damaged plane gun drawn; Obertilliach, Austria, in the action adventure "Spectre." Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc./Columbia Pictures/EON Productions/Danjaq, LLC and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Amazon has sealed a deal to snap up Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) for $8.45 billion, the two companies announced in a joint statement Wednesday, with the acquisition being Amazon’s second-biggest ever and the company’s boldest foray yet into the entertainment industry.

With the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, Amazon hopes to leverage MGM’s catalog of some 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows to help bolster Amazon Studios in its streaming war with competitors like Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix.