Amazon's acquisitions: The tech giant just bought a movie studio, what else have they bought?

5/27/21 8:00PM

This week Amazon completed its acquisition of iconic studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for $8.45bn. That deal is Amazon's second largest ever, just behind the $13.2bn that the e-commerce giant paid for upscale supermarket Whole Foods back in 2017.

MGM's most well known asset is undoubtedly its 50% share in the rights to the James Bond film franchise, which it shares with Eon Productions. Fans of Bond were concerned that the Amazon deal might have meant a "straight to streaming" model for 007, but assurances have been made that Bond producers will keep Bond in cinemas, as well as maintaining control over who plays the character and the creative direction of the franchise.

‍More stuff stuffed into Prime

‍For Amazon, the deal offers further proof of the company's desire to compete seriously in streaming. It will also bolster the quite eclectic range of services offered with its Amazon Prime membership.

As we wrote about last year, Prime's offer is quite a random collection of services which include free delivery, a streaming service, some music, an Amazon credit card, some discounts at Whole Foods and some other random stuff. Crucially though, only 11% of customers polled gave the streaming service as their primary reason for having Amazon Prime, the overwhelming majority (79%) were in it for that one-day delivery.

The strategy, presumably, is to offer such a wide range of services — TV, movies, e-commerce, delivery, music, groceries and more — such that consumers almost can't get away without having Prime. Already there are 175 million Amazon Prime members around the world who seemingly feel that way — and each spends significantly more on Amazon.com than non-Prime members.

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JetBlue is raising its bag fees as fuel costs squeeze airlines

JetBlue will reportedly hike its bag fees, as the cost of jet fuel continues to climb amid the war in Iran. It’s the latest example of carriers finding ways to push rising costs onto travelers.

Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that if fuel prices remain elevated, fares would need to rise another 20% for his airline to break even this year.

As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.

Earlier this month, JetBlue hiked its first-quarter outlook for operating revenue per seat mile to between 5% and 7%, saying that strong Q1 demand helped “partially offset additional expenses realized from operational disruptions and rising fuel costs.” Now, the carrier appears to be making moves to further boost revenue to offset those costs.

Earlier on Monday, JetBlue rival Alaska Air lowered its Q1 profit forecast. The refining margins for the carrier’s cheapest fuel option — sourced from Singapore and representing about 20% of Alaska’s overall supply — have spiked 400% since February.

JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.