Amazon’s buyout of MGM would possibly take for much longer than deliberate. The Information sources say the Federal Trade Commission has launched an “in-depth” investigation into Amazon’s MGM buy over the potential for antitrust abuse. Officials are involved concerning the potential for the acquisition to “illegally boost” Amazon’s clout in providing items and companies, not simply the content material it produces.

MGM has declined to remark. We’ve requested Amazon for remark.

A probe would not be fully surprising. The FTC and the Justice Department agreed to a assessment of the deal when frequent Big Tech critic Lina Khan was named as FTC chair. Amazon has been anticipating a crackdown, and went as far as to ask for Khan’s recusal in upcoming instances. She’s not anticipated to bow out of the MGM investigation.

This will not essentially outcome within the FTC blocking the deal. It would possibly impose circumstances on the acquisition, although, and will simply delay a finalized deal by a number of months. It took greater than a yr for Google to complete buying Fitbit — Amazon could have to attend an analogous period of time to personal MGM, and that is offered there aren’t any main obstacles.