MGM Holdings Ponders Sale of MGM, its Films, and TV series
The coronavirus pandemic may be slowly claiming another victim, a big one, in the entertainment industry. MGM Holdings, the company that owns Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), is thinking of selling the American media company and its stockpile of film titles and TV series titles. The films and TV series include: The Rocky film franchise, The Lord of the Rings film franchise, co-ownership of the James Bond film franchise, the Poltergeist film franchise, The Handmaid’s Tale TV series, the Vikings TV series, and many other films and TV series. In all, 4,000 film titles and 17,000 hours of television. With MGM Holdings not able to release the latest Bond film No Time to Die, its debt increasing by the month, and Anchorage Capital Group, MGM’s biggest share holder wanting to off-load down-dragging MGM from its books, MGM has tapped “investment banks Morgan Stanley and LionTree LLC and [has] begun a formal sale process.”
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The sales rumors have been floating around for sometime, growing stronger during the pandemic, because of the current marketplace. If MGM was ever to get a premium price for its product, during this new high point in the streaming wars would be it. Streaming services are hunger for new, high-end, exclusive content. MGM has that content but the question is how much others are willing to pay for it? MGM could purportedly sell for $5.5 Billion, including the debt it has accumulated. In addition, where would Disney air all of that MGM content? All the R-rated content would become Hulu exclusives or it would be ridiculously censored on Disney+ like Splash (why have the film on Disney+ if you are going to do that to it? Why not just air it on Hulu?) Netflix can’t purchase MGM because they are in too much debt, constantly creating new TV series and original films for its streaming service. There is no way Netflix could add over $5 billion to their per-existing debt load. They would never get out from under all of that debt. The same can be said for HBO Max, owned by AT&T. Because of AT&T’s current debt load, they are out of the running for MGM as well. Leave your thoughts on MGM Holdings pondering a sale of MGM, its films, and TV series below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, and our Movie News Facebook Page. Readers seeking more TV show news can visit our TV Show News Page, our TV Show News Twitter Page, and our TV Show News Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, and Flipboard. This news was brought to our attention by Wall Street Journal (via Variety).
