Much has been brainstormed and speculated about the potential high stakes deal between OTT giant Amazon Prime Video and popular video player and streaming app MX Player. As per the latest update about the said deal, there is a possibility that the Amazon-MX Player deal might not go through at all.
As per a report (via e4m), Amazon had hired an eminent consulting company for the purpose of due diligence pertaining to the deal between Amazon Prime Video and MX Player, which is currently owned by Times Internet. And now, there is a chance that the aforementioned deal might not happen because of some due diligence problems.
Initially launched as just a video player in 2011, MX Player later (in 2019) ventured into the OTT space by relaunching itself as an OTT platform. This was after Times Internet acquired a majority stake in MX Player in the year 2018.
Talks about Amazon’s potential acquisition of MX Player started doing rounds earlier this year in February. In case the deal still somehow goes through, then the Indian OTT space is bound to get even more competitive and cutthroat, especially after Jio Cinema’s recent efforts to aggressively market its streaming platform for Indian OTT viewers. And after the potential deal, Amazon would become the biggest streaming platform with respect to consumer acquisition as MX Player has a massive number of users under its belt.
Amazon apparently wanted to acquire MX Player for a significantly lower cost of around Rs.400 crores, although the figure is not confirmed. But this price was much lesser than what Times Internet had purportedly shelled out for MX Player’s acquisition in 2018 (estimated amount = Rs.1000 crores).
Earlier, it was also speculated that the Zee5 – SonyLIV combined entity was also interested in acquiring MX Player. So, in case the Amazon – MX Player deal does not happen, then Zee5 – SonyLIV might analyze the prospects of acquiring MX Player. Whoever acquires MX Player will certainly hold an upper hand in the Indian OTT space. But the important question is: at what cost?
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