Amazon's announcement of its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM emphasized the value of the MGM movie library to the Amazon Prime streaming service. But the transaction raises big questions about what will become of existing MGM's television group, headed by Mark Burnett.Burnett is already a big winner in the deal as he is poised to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars as the owner of a small stake in MGM. The producer who made his mark with "Survivor" and...
MGM Television
Mark
Burnett
Chairman, Worldwide Television Group
Burnett’s future in the executive ranks is still a question mark as Amazon works to complete its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM. As a significant shareholder in MGM, he is set to see a huge windfall from the transaction. As a producer, Burnett has kept his sturdy network franchises — CBS’ “Survivor,” NBC’s “The Voice” and ABC’s “Shark Tank” — going strong while the Jamie Foxx-fronted music competition series “Beat Shazam” made it to season 4 on Fox. MGM Television is seeing the benefits of the acquisitions of busy reality banners such as Big Fish Entertainment and Evolution Entertainment. Burnett also orchestrated a shakeup in MGM’s scripted operations. Longtime executive Steve Stark exited for a production pact in March 2021 as Epix chief Michael Wright added oversight of content development.