Amazon Aquires Lovefilm In Europe
Lovefilm, a European rental service comparable to Netflix, has been acquired by Amazon. Amazon. com had owned 42% ofthe Lovefilm shares, and now owns the remaining 58%; which they purchased for an amount that they aren’t releasing (rumor has it the bill was close to $312 million).
Lovefilm is an online company for DVD and game rentals, and also streams movies and TV shows. It is available in the UK, Norway, Denkmark, Germany, and Sweden – all places where Amazon did not have a similar product.
The move may be defensive against an international Netflix expansion, but this is only a possibility. The sale is still pending approval by the European regulators, but it is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.
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