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Amazon is ready for its closeup.

The e-commerce giant announced Wednesday it has purchased MGM Studios — once one of Hollywood’s Big Five major production and distribution companies until it fell into bankruptcy in the 21st Century.

It’s Amazon’s biggest acquisition since it bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017. The deal also marks the $1.6 trillion e-commerce giant’s biggest push yet into Hollywood.

The $8.45 billion acquisition brings a slew of movies and shows to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service as it seeks to compete with giants like Netflix and Disney.

The company also owns a slate of reality TV series that include “Shark Tank” and “Survivor.”

MGM Studios fell into bankruptcy in 2010.Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Metro-Goldwyn Mayer did not age well. The nearly 100-year-old Tinseltown titan behind hits such as Rain Man and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest became a target for corporate raiders who sold off much of its production assets.

The company still owns a massive catalog of content, though, from the James Bond and Rocky franchises to a studio responsible for more recent streaming hits like “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

MGM is currently owned privately and counts a number of hedge funds among its owners, including Anchorage Capital Group, Highland Capital Management and Solus Alternative Asset Management.

The James Bond films will now be a part of Amazon’s collection.©Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

The deal comes amid rapid consolidation across the media industry, with cable giants seeking partners to take on new-age streaming behemoths. Last week, telecom giant AT&T announced a deal to spin off its content unit WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery, in an effort to create a massive studio that can compete with streaming rivals Netflix and Disney.

EU reportedly set to open formal antitrust probe into Facebook

European regulators are reportedly set to open a formal probe into whether Facebook has violated antitrust laws by undermining rivals in the classified advertising market.

The European Commission has already sent questionnaires to Facebook and its rivals asking whether the tech giant is warping the classified advertising business by promoting its online marketplace for free to its users, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

Facebook is one of the few US Big Tech companies that’s managed to escape formal antitrust scrutiny from the European Union so far. The EU had previously investigated Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Google, with most of those probes launched in the past couple of years.

The launch of a formal probe by the EU could come in days, but the timing and the scope of the investigation are still being discussed, the FT reported, citing three senior people with direct knowledge of the case.

Representatives for Facebook did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now facing an antitrust probe by the European Union.REUTERS

European antitrust regulators previously sent questionnaires to Facebook in 2019 about its marketplace service, according to Reuters. And last year, European regulators sent another round of questionnaires, asking whether Facebook Marketplace benefits unfairly from the massive amounts of data the social media giant collects, Reuters previously reported.

In July of last year, Facebook sued EU antitrust regulators for seeking information they said was beyond what’s necessary for their investigations into the company’s data and marketplace.

Bitcoin price bounces back above $40,000 after a wild week of trading

In this articleTSLAA photo illustration depicting the cryptocurrency bitcoin.Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto via Getty ImagesThe price of bitcoin climbed back above $40,000 on Wednesday morning, a week after its price tumbled 30% to around $30,000.The world’s most popular cryptocurrency was trading at $40,344.50 at 5:24 a.m. ET on Wednesday, up over 5% over the last 24 hours, according to Coin Metrics data.All the other major digital coins were also in the green Wednesday. Ethereum’s price has risen over 10% in the last 24 hours to $2,865.61, while Dogecoin’s price has climbed a little over 2% to 36 cents a coin.Last week’s crypto sell-off came after authorities in China and the U.S. moved to tighten regulation and tax compliance on cryptocurrencies. Chinese authorities called for tighter regulation on crypto mining and trading on Friday, reinforcing rules announced in 2017, and the U.S. Treasury announced Thursday that it would require stricter crypto compliance with the IRS.But the cryptocurrency market is trying to recover some of the losses this week after it plunged again on Sunday to almost $31,000.Bitcoin’s latest price rise comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Monday he spoke to bitcoin miners in North America about renewable energy solutions. Elsewhere, hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio said in an article published on Monday that he has some bitcoin.Read more about cryptocurrencies from CNBC ProHow another ‘crypto winter’ could affect Coinbase’s stock price, according to MizuhoCramer sees ‘one more cathartic decline’ in bitcoin as a buy sign to those who missed crypto crazeMohamed El-Erian says volatility in the price of cryptocurrency is here to stay

Bitcoin 'time to buy' ad banned in the UK for being irresponsible

An advert for bitcoin on a bus in London’s West End.Barry Lewis | In Pictures | Getty ImagesLONDON — An advertising campaign telling people in the U.K. “it’s time to buy” bitcoin has been banned by the nation’s advertising regulator for being irresponsible and misleading.Posters for cryptocurrency exchange service Luno — shown across the London Underground network and on London buses this year — contained a cartoon image of a bitcoin with the words “If you’re seeing Bitcoin on the Underground, it’s time to buy.”The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said Wednesday that the ads must not appear again in their current form and that they failed to highlight the risks.It comes a week after the price of bitcoin collapsed by 30% in a single day, leaving many retailer investors who had bought bitcoin significantly out of pocket. It also comes two weeks after the Bank of England governor said cryptocurrency investors should be prepared to lose all their money.The watchdog said that it received four complaints concerning the ad. Three of them were from people who believed the ad failed to illustrate the risk of the investment and accused it of being misleading. One said the ad took advantage of consumer’s inexperience or credulity.”We considered that consumers would interpret the statement ‘it’s time to buy’ as a call to action and that the simplicity of the statement gave the impression that bitcoin investment was straightforward and accessible,” the ASA said.The regulator added, “bitcoin investment was complex, volatile, and could expose investors to losses and considered that stood in contrast to the impression given by the ad, that investment was simple and conventional.””For that reason, we concluded that the ad irresponsibly suggested that engaging in bitcoin investment through Luno was straightforward and easy,” it added.It has told Luno to ensure that its future marketing communications make “sufficiently clear that the value of investments in bitcoin was variable and could go down as well as up.” They must also highlight that Luno and the bitcoin market are unregulated.Read more about cryptocurrencies from CNBC ProHow another ‘crypto winter’ could affect Coinbase’s stock price, according to MizuhoCramer sees ‘one more cathartic decline’ in bitcoin as a buy sign to those who missed crypto crazeMohamed El-Erian says volatility in the price of cryptocurrency is here to stayLuno has agreed not to share the ads in their current form again and pledged to ensure that future ads carry an appropriate risk warning, the ASA said.Luno, which is part of a group that also owns the CoinDesk website, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said in a statement that regulators are becoming increasingly concerned about the risks that cryptocurrency investments can pose to consumers.”Cryptocurrencies are very complex, and are highly difficult to value, not least because the rules of the game can change so quickly,” she said.Bitcoin’s volatilityLast week’s crypto sell-off came after authorities in China and the U.S. moved to tighten regulation and tax compliance on cryptocurrencies. The sell-off was a major reversal for the cryptocurrency, which appeared to be gaining traction among major Wall Street banks and publicly traded companies.Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who helped fuel bullish sentiment when his company announced in February it has bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin, delivered a blow earlier this month when he announced that the automaker had suspended vehicle purchases using the cryptocurrency over environmental concerns.Bitcoin’s price was boosted this week after Musk said he’d been talking to bitcoin miners about how to make the cryptocurrency more environmentally friendly.The price of bitcoin at 3:49 a.m. ET was $40,445,17 and it’s climbed around 4% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk.

Google gets the green light to build multi-billion dollar megacampus in San Jose

In this articleGOOGLSan Jose city officials on Tuesday night officially approved a plan for Google to build a massive campus in the heart of California’s third-largest city.For its “Downtown West” project, Google will develop 80 acres of land in downtown San Jose, including 7.3 million square feet of office space for 20,000 workers and thousands of housing units. It’s Google’s first mixed-use campus and will be one of its largest when completed. The San Jose city council unanimously approved the company’s plans Tuesday evening and several council members held back tears while doing so.The approval comes as Google aims to model a shift away from closed-off tech campuses to stem the growing alienation toward tech companies, whose success has contributed to a shortage of affordable housing and big cultural shifts in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs. Google, which is doubling down on bringing workers back to offices amid the weakening pandemic, is also planning another massive, town-like hub just 10 miles up the road in Mountain View.”There’s tremendous mistrust of the government and suspicion of Big Tech and it could have been easy for many of our community members simply to succumb to slogans and simplistic thinking but thousands rolled up their sleeves,” San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Rather than jump in one camp or another, community members pushed and prodded, and urged the city and Google to stretch and reach higher.”Liccardo continued, thanking community groups, Google, and parent company Alphabet’s finance chief Ruth Porat and SVP Kent Walker, who he said “we’re committed to seeing this through.” “We’d like to thank the City and community for years of engagement and true partnership,” said Google’s San Jose Development Director Alexa Arena in a statement Tuesday night. “Together, we have created a foundation for an equitable and environmentally focused place that represents the best of San Jose and Google.”The Downtown West campus will include 4,000 housing units, 1,000 of which will be designated for a range of “affordable” housing. In the city of San Jose, “extremely low-income” qualifiers — the bottom range of low-income housing — earn 30% of the average medium income. Exact housing prices haven’t been determined yet, officials said.Downtown West will also include up to 300 hotel rooms and 800 residences for short-term lodging for Google’s corporate guests. While Google will own all 80 acres, more than half of the project will be allocated for residential and public space and include features like parks, restaurants, retail space, entertainment space and ecological viewing stations.Construction on the project could begin as early as next year but is expected to take between 10 and 30 years to fully build.A four-year journeyDowntown West’s approval comes after four years of planning, adjusting and earning buy-in from community and housing advocates after facing early and intense pushback for displacement concerns. Within one week of the news breaking in 2017, home prices in a three-mile radius of the site jumped 7%, growing to a 25% rise six months later, according to real estate experts.On Tuesday night, while San Jose city council meeting was still being held, the company reached a last-minute deal with NHL team the San Jose Sharks, which was the most vocal opponent of Google’s plan, complaining about the lack of proposed parking spaces for its home at the nearby SAP arena. In exchange for modifications, the Sharks agreed not to sue the city or Google. The Santa Clara County Airport Land Use Commission rejected the project in December, citing concerns about building heights in the airport’s path but the city council’s unanimous vote overrode the commission’s rejection.Google’s chief legal officer and Global Affairs SVP Kent Walker joined Calif. governor Gavin Newsom last week as he hosted the signing of Senate Bill 7 at the Downtown West site, which stands to benefit from the bill that speeds up large real estate developments.Not including office space, Google will pay more than $1 billion for infrastructure features such as parks, walkways, and preservation of historic sites. It’ll also pay approximately $265.8 million in land and infrastructure fees as well as $200 million in “community benefits,” which includes anti-displacement and job readiness programs. A company spokesperson said it’s too early to estimate the costs of the offices.”We’re especially proud of the community fund that was created with local social equity organizations to give underserved communities a voice in where community investments should be made,” Alexa Arena said in a statement. Arena said the company had conducted more than 100 community feedback sessions.Arena said late last year that, after years of back and forth with the community, the company’s goal was for “much less the corporate campus” and more “a resilient neighborhood.”

Tesla is ditching radar, will rely on cameras for Autopilot in some cars

In this articleTSLAThe interior of a Tesla Model S is shown in autopilot mode in San Francisco, California, U.S., April 7, 2016.Alexandria Sage | ReutersTesla announced Tuesday that it is ditching radar in its driver-assistance features, including Autopilot.In a blog post, the company said its best-selling Model 3 and Model Y vehicles made for customers in the U.S. and Canada starting this month would instead feature a camera-based system to enable Autopilot features such as traffic-adjusted cruise control or automatic lane-keeping.Radar sensors are relatively expensive, and processing data from them takes significant computing power in a vehicle. Tesla has previously told shareholders that it believes “a vision-only system is ultimately all that is needed for full autonomy” and that it was planning to switch the U.S. market to Tesla Vision. CEO Elon Musk also said in a tweet on March 12 that the company would move to a “pure vision” approach.Tesla said these will be the first Tesla vehicles to rely on camera vision and neural net processing to deliver “Autopilot, Full-Self Driving and certain active safety features.”The company also cautioned that Autopilot and FSD systems would not be as useful or as strong during this period of technical adjustments.”For a short period during this transition, cars with Tesla Vision may be delivered with some features temporarily limited or inactive, including: Autosteer will be limited to a maximum speed of 75 mph and a longer minimum following distance. Smart Summon (if equipped) and Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance may be disabled at delivery.”Customers who already ordered a Model 3 or Model Y but didn’t know about this modification will be informed before they accept delivery of their cars.All new Tesla vehicles include a standard set of advanced driver assistance features dubbed Autopilot.Tesla also sells a $10,000 premium software package marketed as “Full Self Driving” or FSD. Tesla gives select drivers early access to a beta version of FSD — effectively turning thousands of customers into software testers on public roads in the U.S.According to the company’s website, Autopilot currently enables a Tesla vehicle to “steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane” and FSD adds features such as automatic lane changing and summon. Summon enables a driver to call their car to come pick them up across a parking lot using the Tesla app like a remote control.Tesla cautions in its owner’s manual and on its website that Autopilot and FSD require active supervision. But some drivers incorrectly believe that a Tesla is safe to operate hands-free, asleep at the wheel or even while sitting in the back of the car.One Tesla owner who posted social media videos of himself using Autopilot without his hands on the wheel died in a fatal collision in Southern California earlier this month. Another was arrested by the California Highway Patrol for taking his Tesla for unsafe joy rides during which he sat in the back seat and let the car operate on public highways with no driver at the wheel.Most using radar and lidarOther automakers are taking a different tack when it comes to the development, rollout and marketing of automated driving systems. GM Cruise, Alphabet’s Waymo, Aurora and others are including radar and lidar alongside cameras in their systems.While cameras capture video that can be labeled by human data analysts and interpreted by machine-learning software, radar and lidar sensors provide additional data that can give cars a more robust way to detect and avoid obstacles on the road — especially when visibility is lower, including at night or in inclement weather.Musk has called lidar a “crutch” and a “fool’s errand,” saying it’s too expensive and hard to use. But he has not dismissed radar entirely yet.Tesla intends to keep radar in its higher-cost Model S and Model X vehicles and in Model 3 and Model Y cars made in China or for shipment to markets beyond North America.According to Phil Koopman, CTO of Edge Case Research and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, Tesla should be able to get away with offering some features via vision today but might need to reintroduce radar later on to deliver more advanced automated features.”The sensors used by an SAE Level 2 (human driver responsible for monitoring safety at all times) is at manufacturer discretion. So it’s possible they can provide at least some features with camera only, noting that the human is responsible for handling anything the camera can’t,” said Koopman.”Tesla’s features are currently limited to this SAE Level 2. If in the future Tesla wants to achieve SAE Level 4 (automated vehicle with no human driver safety supervision — which is not the current capability), then it would prudent to use every type of sensor they can get, including cameras, radar, lidar, and possibly others.”

Facebook employees to return to NYC offices in July

Facebook employees will be allowed to return to the company’s New York City offices this summer — but they’ll still be required to wear masks and undergo coronavirus testing.

The social media outfit will reopen its offices in NoHo, Flatiron and Hudson Yards at 25 percent capacity in July, spokesperson Jamila Reeves told The Post on Tuesday.

In-person work will reportedly be optional until one month after the office returns to 50 percent capacity, a point the company does not expect to reach until September, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Facebook has already reopened its San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle offices at 10 percent capacity.

“As we return to the office, we have a number of protocols in place including physical distancing, wearing masks, and testing,” said Reeves. “Masks will be required at all times when in an office and where possible. Weekly COVID-19 testing will be required for anyone working onsite.”

Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking in front of the logo of Instagram in San Jose, California.Kyodo News via Getty Images

Facebook is the latest in a growing list of firms to call employees back to New York offices.

JPMorgan pushed some employees to return even before coronavirus vaccines were available, and Goldman Sachs has told US employees to be ready to work in-person starting on June 14.

On of Facebook’s several offices in Manhattan.REUTERS

Mayor Bill de Blasio has pushed Big Apple businesses to make employees work in-person, spending over $200 million on bringing municipal buildings into compliance with coronavirus safety measures despite the widespread availability of vaccines.

In March, a Partnership for New York City survey found that less than half of Manhattan’s 1 million office workers will return to in-person work by September.

Uber CEO is 'not happy' with how long it's taking to pick riders up or prices being charged

In this articleUBERUber Technologies CEO Dara Khosrowshahi outside the New York Stock Exchange ahead of the company’s IPO, May 10, 2019.Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Tuesday afternoon that while driver supply is getting better as more people get vaccinated against the coronavirus, there’s still plenty of room to go as demand for rides outpaces supply.”ETAs are higher than we want them to be, surge level prices have increased as we have not seen drivers supply keep up with the demand growth in the U.S.,” Khosrowshahi said at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Communications Conference.”The supply position is something we’re still working on. It’s definitely getting better but we’re not happy with the ETAs and price levels we see and that is something we’re going to invest to improve on,” he added.With Americans getting vaccinated and governments easing pandemic restrictions, people are ready to travel and leave their homes again, turning to rideshare companies. However, Uber and Lyft are still dealing with a slow return of drivers. If the companies can’t bring in enough drivers to meet demand, they could face annoyed customers who are having to shell out more cash and wait longer.Uber said last month it would spend $250 million on a one-time stimulus aimed at getting drivers back on the road. In its first-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Khosrowshahi said they would “continue to lean in with targeted incentives for new and existing drivers.”Lyft also said earlier this month it would use its cut from elevated pricing to fund investments to bring back more drivers. In terms of bringing out more incentives, Lyft President John Zimmer said at the same conference on Monday afternoon that the company would be “smart about it.””We’re extremely confident and have already started to see significant improvement,” Zimmer said.Both Uber and Lyft said this month they expect the supply and demand issues to press on business in the second quarter, and would see recovery in the third.”We’re confident in our ability to execute,” Khosrowshahi said.Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Atlanta Hawks owner accused of ‘hunting fouls’ in finance