The most important media merger of the final 20 years — the $43 billion deal between Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia — overcame its final regulatory hurdle Wednesday after getting the all-clear from US antitrust officers.
However because the deal between two main content material suppliers breezed previous antitrust officers, the way forward for a a lot smaller deal deal — Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM Studios — stays in limbo. It was introduced simply days after the Discovery-Warner tieup.
Washington insiders say the holdup on Amazon’s MGM deal underlines the additional scrutiny Large Tech is below. “Discovery and Warner is consolidation, nevertheless it’s not a monopoly,” a former Home Judiciary aide advised The Put up. “Amazon is a transparent monopoly, with dominance within the digital area,” the supply contended.
Regulators is perhaps casting a skeptical eye on a Large Tech behemoth like Amazon including to its already mighty heft by bolting on MGM and its content material, sources mentioned.
“The scenario reveals the animosity authorities has for Large Tech and the way Large Tech is within the crosshairs, particularly from an M&A standpoint,” LightShed Companions media analyst Wealthy Greenfield advised The Put up.
“TikTok is devouring your entire leisure world and Fb can’t even purchase Giphy … it’s the rising distaste for Large Tech,” he mentioned of the social community’s failed bid for a GIF-sharing website.
To make sure, it’s a lot simpler to crack down on Large Tech when an organization is asking for regulators to approve a deal then it’s to go after the corporate retroactively.
For some, this may very well be the proper alternative to stay it to Amazon — by scrutinizing the MGM deal.
However federal regulators are already stretched skinny.
The Justice Division’s antitrust division, which is led by anti-Google crusader Jonathan Kanter, is pursuing a case against Google over its “illegal monopolies” within the on-line search and promoting industries.
And the Lina Khan-led Federal Commerce Fee, in the meantime, is pursuing an anti-monopoly suit against Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta whereas concurrently reviewing Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.
