What's going on?

He is CEO, hear him roar: Amazon agreed on Wednesday to buy iconic movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for $8.5 billion.

What does this mean?

The spread of streaming service is putting pressure on Amazon to do more with Prime Video � a key draw for the company�s 200 million-plus paying members. And MGM � the film and TV production and distribution powerhouse behind James Bond and The Handmaid�s Tale � will give Amazon instant access to a wealth of classic (and rebootable) content for less than the $11 billion it spent on shows and movies in 2020.

Still, it�s not only the biggest deal the company�s done since its near $14 billion takeover of Whole Foods back in 2017: it�s one that Amazon seems to think is strategically significant enough to reportedly pay around $3 billion more than both Apple and Comcast were offering (tweet this).

Why should I care?

For markets: Fortune favors the Disney+ game plan.

Amazon�s investors will hope MGM breathes fresh life into its streaming service, helping the company hold on to existing customers and attract new ones. And the signs are encouraging: it seems to be following in the footsteps of Disney+, whose blockbuster back catalog is one of the main reasons for its success. That�s leaving Netflix � which has taken the contrasting approach of creating original content over acquiring the rights to existing media libraries � looking increasingly isolated.

The bigger picture: No time to buy?

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are also likely to be less than thrilled by Amazon�s antics. They�re already worried about the company�s anticompetitive dominance in several markets, with numerous probes ongoing. The latest � launched just this week � has seen Amazon taken to task for allegedly preventing third-party ecommerce sellers from offering their products for cheaper elsewhere, keeping prices unfairly high for consumers.