(business) Sony & Consortium Acquire Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (moved from ATSNN), page 1

Friday, a corporate consortium led by Sony Corporation announced its purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for the price of about 4.9 billion dollars along with 1.9 billion in previous standing debt. Though this signals the end of the independent entertainment company, Sony says it will continue production of upcoming films under MGM such as "The Pink Panther" as well as long-running series such as "Stargate SG-1".

losangeles.bizjournals.com
In a statement, MGM said the transaction establishes MGM as one of the world's largest privately held, independent motion picture, television and home video companies. The deal, which includes $2 billion in debt, was first announced in Sept. 2004.

Along with the announcement, Charles Cohen will serve as executive vice president. Jim Packer will serve as executive vice president of television distribution, Blake Thomas will serve as executive vice president of home entertainment distribution, Bruce Tuchman is now executive vice president of MGM Networks and Travis Rutherford is now executive vice president of consumer products and location-based entertainment.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

As an avid fan of Stargate SG-1, this news startled me as MGM is/was in charge of production. As I understand it, though, this acquisition does not mean the end of MGM projects, just a renaming of the company (as basic as you could put it). Though it is comforting that Sony is the one taking the wheel on the show, not some obscure name.

Apparently Comcast is included within the Sony-led conglomerate. They hope to employ the MGM library of films into their cable lineup. Doesn't really affect me though, I don't have Comcast as it is not available in our area. For those who do have it though, you're lucky!

Related News Links:
philadelphia.bizjournals.com
www.mercurynews.com