Amazon Buys MGM: So What?

By Mark Morgan Ford · June 11, 2021 · 2 min read

The public narrative is this:

On May 26, Amazon announced it had cut a deal to buy Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) for $8.45 billion. MGM has a catalog of 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows, which have collectively won more than 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmys. This is Amazon’s biggest move yet into the conventional entertainment industry.

The deeper story – the one that few people are talking about – is this: The entertainment industry is a subset of the Information Industry. (Another subset is fashion, travel, and luxury goods of all kind.) And Amazon is just one of a handful of companies (including Apple, Facebook, and Google) that are gradually but steadily dominating it. Information is power. And with power comes control. These businesses are acquiring near complete sovereignty over their customers. They are fast becoming nations of their own. Digital states that may equal or bypass nation states. And speaking of Amazon’s relationship with its customers… According to the company’s website, “Amazon’s mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company.” Well, I was taking one of my rabbit-hole runs through YouTube the other night and came upon several examples of Amazon delivery people who don’t seem to have gotten that message. In this first one, an Amazon delivery driver is caught stealing the packages he’s supposed to be delivering: Here, a driver in Miami Beach punches a 73-year-old customer after he’s told he can’t enter the building without a mask: And here, a driver beats the crap out of a 67-year-old woman in San Francisco:

Amazon Buys MGM: So What?

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