MGM Holdings Of The 'James Bond' Fame Is Up For Sale: WSJ

Movie Studio MGM Holdings Inc has roped in Morgan Stanley MS and LionTree LLC to aide a sale of its studio business along with its content library, reports the Wall Street Journal.

What Happened: The fabled “James Bond” franchise owner’s shares are traded privately and are valued at close to $5.5 billion, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

The studio is reportedly looking beyond Hollywood for investments, eyeing international media companies, special purpose acquisition companies, and even private-equity investors.

Why Does It Matter: For most of the year, movie theatre businesses were forced to operate at a lower capacity due to the pandemic outbreak and lockdown restrictions, whereas over-the-top streaming services gained a higher user engagement.

WSJ noted that MGM’s licensing revenues were the key drivers for the first three quarters of the year and the company received an additional boost from a reduction in marketing expenses.

In 2018, former MGM CEO Gary Barber had plans to offload its studio business to Apple Inc. AAPL for $6 billion, reports the Journal. At the time, the company decided to fire Barber for initiating the unsanctioned discussions, which fell apart soon after his departure.

MGM’s vast content library could prove to be an attractive asset for streaming video-on-demand service providers.

In October, The Hollywood Reporter noted that MGM approached OTT platforms Netflix Inc NFLX and Apple TV+ with a $600 million one-year licensing deal for the latest installment of James Bond “No Time To Die —” but the deal did not follow through due to differences in pricing and valuation.

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