Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

**Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.** (also known as **Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures**, initialized as **MGM**; often referred to as Metro; common metonym: the Lion or Leo) is an American film production studio owned by Amazon's WarnerMedia and is a film label of Warner Bros. Pictures Group a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment

involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. One of the world's oldest film studios, MGM's corporate headquarters are located in Burbank, California.

MGM was formed on April 17, 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. The new company grew and became one of the "big five" film studios of Hollywood. The studio built a stable of stars under contract, its motto was "more stars than there are in heaven". It was the studio that produced numerous big musicals and won many Oscars. The company was a complete production house, from studios and backlots to full technical facilities.

Its most prosperous era was from 1926 until 1959, bracketed by two productions of *Ben Hur*. The year 1959 also saw the beginning of the breakup of the company, with the divestiture of the Loews movie chain. Long-term contracts became a thing of the past. Film costs became more unpredictable and making films became more of a gamble. Built initially to produce twenty films or more per year to fill its movie houses, the studio became unsustainable at a reduced output in the 1960s, although it had diversified into television production and rentals of much of its facilities.

By the late 1960s, the company's stock price had declined to the point where the value of its assets well exceeded the value of its stock, making it the potential target for a takeover and the company fought off corporate raiders. The company fell under the control of outsiders with little experience in film-making. In 1969, deal maker Kirk Kerkorian bought 40% of MGM and installed new management. The management immediately started a sell-off of assets and laid off much of its staff. Output was reduced to an average of five movies per year. Kerkorian focussed on other ventures, utilizing the company brand. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company was created in 1973 as a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and in the 1980s became an independent company.

Over the next 37 years, the studio was bought and sold on multiple occasions. In all, Kerkorian bought and sold the company three times. Each sale was larger than the previous, and often funded with debt. The debt led to further sell-offs and divestitures. The company sold its Culver City studio complex, its backlots, film library and subsidiaries to pay off incurred debt and reduce ongoing costs. To bolster its output and increase its film library, the company acquired Samuel Goldwyn Company in 1981. In 1986, Kerkorian sold the Taft Broadcasting Company which includes MGM to Ted Turner and in 1994. Turner purchased New Line Cinema, which owns studios such as Fine Line Features and Castle Rock Entertainment. In 1996. Turner sold his company and merged it with Time Warner to form fully Time Warner. In 2001, Time Warner was bought by AT&T for $183 billion. In March 2022, AT&T sold WarnerMedia to Amazon for $8.45 billion.

Today, the company produces feature films and television series, and Warner Bros. currently distributes its films that it has produced as well as purchased distribution rights to. In film, the company's major productions include the *Tom and Jerry* franchise and the *Hanna-Barbera* franchise. Recent productions of MGM Television include *The Handmaid's Tale*.