The Amazon-MX Player agreement may not go through

The high-profile merger between Amazon Prime Video and MX Player is most likely doomed due to due diligence difficulties.

The e-commerce behemoth from the United States has hired a top advisory firm to conduct due diligence on the transaction.

Even though both Prime Video and Times Internet (which owns MX Player) had many rounds of discussions over the previous few months, conversations between the two parties have lately ended. 

Emails sent to Times Internet and Amazon went unanswered as of the time of writing. It is thought that Amazon attempted to acquire the platform for a significantly lower amount than the OTT Player's previous acquisition price. 

Amazon's planned price was not disclosed, but it was rumoured to be over $50 million, or Rs 400 crore. In 2018, Times Internet Ltd (TIL) paid an estimated $140 million or Rs 1,000 crore for MX Player.

If the transaction had gone through, Prime Video would have become India's largest OTT player in terms of consumer acquisition. In India, Prime Video has an estimated 28 million users, whereas MX Player has roughly 78 million.

The planned purchase has the potential to intensify India's OTT war, with the Reliance Group entering the fray by obtaining digital rights to the IPL, and it comes at a time when the sector is facing growth issues.

History 

Karan Bedi first created MX Player in 2011 as a video player. Bedi is the company's CEO. 

Times Internet purchased MX Player in 2018 for approximately $140 million. According to Tracxn, after the acquisition, MX Player raised $110 million in a Series A financing from Tencent at a valuation of more than $500 million. Tencent is a Chinese holding business and entertainment conglomerate. 

According to data.ai's State of Mobile 2023 report, MX Player was the third most downloaded OTT app globally in 2022. According to the data, MX Player was the most downloaded app in India as well.